Spreading Darkness
by CreativeIllusions
Summary: Lily Evans' last year at Hogwarts has arrived and soon she'll be on her own. But first she has to make it through a year full of danger, secrets, and a little bit of romance, with James Potter by her side the entire time.
1. Back to Hogwarts

**After reading so many great Lily Evans and James Potter fanfiction stories, I decided to start my own. I'm trying my best to keep everything mentioned in the books the same, but there are some new, original charcters of my own and the story idea will be made up, except for the relationship, of course. The biggest problem I'll have with this story will probably be time - according to the books, this should take place in the late 1970s, but since I didn't live in that time period, there are going to be a lot of mistakes. I may end up pretending that it's happening in real time and mentioned modern stuff, but at the moment I'm trying to keep that out. I hope you like this story no matter what, though!**

**_Disclaimer: All the characters are, of course, J.K. Rowlings', except for a handful of characters that came from my crazy imagination._**

* * *

Chapter One: Back to Hogwarts

A loud alarm clock woke Lily Evans from her deep slumber. Even though it was still dark, she forced herself to crawl out of bed and finish packing her trunk. She needed to be at Platform 9¾ at exactly 11 o'clock, which was in a mere four hours. Her parents would be waking up soon, but Lily knew her older sister, Petunia, wouldn't get out of bed until she was dragged kicking and screaming from it. Petunia hated everything magic-related, especially the fact that Lily went to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Every single year Lily had to go through Petunia looking down on her as the 'freak' and complaining about having to go to King's Cross instead of hanging out with her friends, especially her new boyfriend, Vernon Dursley.

No matter how many times Lily tried to apologize to her sister, Petunia refused to listen. She tried to pretend that she hated Lily because she was a freak, but Lily had found the letter she had written to Dumbledore, begging to be admitted into Hogwarts. Lily knew that her sister was jealous, and was twisting her actions to hide all the hurt feelings that she bottled up. Even being separated for over nine months every year didn't soften her anger and Lily was forced to endure the silent glares and verbal insults the entire summer. So, the thought of getting back to Hogwarts certainly filled her with joy.

Especially since it was her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. In less than a year from now she was no longer going to be a student; instead, she would be out on her own in the real world. The thought both scared and thrilled her. She would be even more independent than Petunia, who was in college.

Lily pulled herself from her thoughts and returned to focusing on her trunk. She had packed most of her stuff in the past week, but she still had a few things hanging around her room that she had to remember to shove into her trunk before she left. Plus she needed to grab something to eat and get ready. It would be just her luck if she ended up being late to the prompt Hogwarts Express because she had to quickly brush her teeth. And Petunia would never let her forget that she had arrived late and missed the train; even though Petunia would be busy with classes, still living at home would give her plenty of time to torment her, which was exactly what Lily wanted to escape from.

After she got ready, Lily headed downstairs to grab a bowl of cereal to eat. She was happy to munch on the cereal while reading the _Daily Prophet_, which a tawny-colored owl had delivered to her while she was closing her trunk. She scanned the articles on the front page, reading about a protest about house elves' rights and information about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who was suspected to be behind a recent attack on a group of Muggles. Then, when her parents came down to eat, Lily put down her newspaper and discussed various subjects with her parents while she waited for her sister to come down so that they could leave.

Mrs. Evans sipped coffee from a red mug while watching her husband and daughter. "So, are you excited for your last year, Lil?"

Lily nodded. "Not too excited about the N.E.W.T.s, though - they're probably going to be killer."

"Well, as long as you study hard you should do fine, sweetie," Mr. Evans reassured her, clapping her on the back as he did.

The loving moment was ruined when Petunia stomped her way into the kitchen, dramatically yawning to remind everyone that it wasn't her idea to wake up this early. She grabbed an apple and took a loud bite from it, trying to drown out any conversation. Mr. Evans smiled at his younger daughter, silently apologizing for his older daughter's behavior. Mr. and Mrs. Evans never bothered Petunia about her behavior because they knew it wouldn't help, and would only cause her to resent Lily even more. Instead, the three quietly tolerated her behavior and tried not to press her.

Soon it was time to leave for King's Cross, and the Evans piled into the family car, with Lily's cat, Sasha, curled up on Lily's lap. Petunia was busy staring out of the window and ignoring the rest of her family, as if her silence would mean that this wasn't really happening. Lily didn't mind, though - she was too busy thinking about Hogwarts to worry about it.

She was happy that she would soon be back with her best friend Ivy Parks, but she wasn't looking forward to being constantly followed by James Potter, who had started asking her out repeatedly ever since their fifth year. No matter how many times she turned him down (at first politely, but recently much harsher), he couldn't get the idea through his arrogant head. And yet Lily and Ivy had begun hanging out with James and his gang of 'Marauders' during the past year, so that they could almost be friends. If only James would move on, of course.

The rest of the car ride zoomed by quickly, and soon she was getting out of the car with her trunk being pulled by her father and Sasha in her arms. She was still dressed in Muggle clothes - simple jeans and a fitted tee - so other than the cat and the huge trunk, she didn't really stand out in the crowd of busy Muggles who were rushing to get to their trains or the cabs waiting outside King's Cross. Lily was great at blending in though - after all, she was a Muggle-born, and until she received her letter from Hogwarts back when she was eleven, she hadn't known anything other than the Muggle world.

Petunia was dragging her feet behind them, looking around the station at everything except her family in front of her. Lily knew that she was trying to pretend she didn't know them, but she refused to let it get to her. She didn't want to give her sister the satisfaction of ruining her first day back at Hogwarts, where she truly belonged. She couldn't wait to slip through the hidden barrier between platforms nine and ten and into the hidden world that she gladly called hers. That was something Petunia couldn't take away from her, no matter how sullenly she acted.

When the barrier came into view, Lily took her trunk from her father, placing Sasha on top of it and increasing her pace as she walked toward the wall between the two platforms. She walked faster and faster, although refraining from running, before she hit the wall and smoothly walked right through it, right into the Hogwarts Express platform. She quickly moved aside so that her parents and sister could join her.

Her father and mother popped through a few seconds later, with Petunia practically being dragged in between them. Petunia hated going through the barrier - she was always worried that she was going to hit the wall, even though she knew there was a platform behind it. The first time they had gone through it, she had thrown a fit and it had taken fifteen minutes to calm her down, almost causing Lily to miss the train. But this time they had arrived twenty minutes early, and Lily was happy to see dozens of families still milling around the platform, taking their time before their children had to get on the train.

"Look, there are the Parkses," Mrs. Evans said, pointing towards a group of four standing about twenty feet away.

Lily smiled and hurried over to her friend, who had just noticed her.

"Lily!" Ivy had a huge smile on her tan face, her dark blonde hair curling slightly at her shoulder. Her bright blue eyes were full of excitement at seeing her friend again, which made the smile on Lily's own face grow even more.

"Ivy, it's so great to see you!" Lily cried, hugging her friend fiercely.

"How was your summer?" Ivy asked as soon as the two friends separated.

"Boring," Lily sighed. "All I had to keep me company was homework, Sasha, and your awesome letters."

Ivy grinned. She was well-known for writing funny letters that spanned the length of at least a foot of parchment, full of her small handwriting. She always sent Lily, along with other friends and family, long letters that ranged from funny to random to touching, depending on her current mood. And since her mood was normally somewhere in the bubbly, happy range, her letters tended to make the reader laugh at the crazy writings. Lily was the proud recipient of letters from Ivy at least once a week, and they had helped keep her entertained while she was stuck alone in the Muggle world.

Behind them, Mr. and Mrs. Evans were speaking with Ivy's parents; even though both Parks adults had been raised in the wizarding world (Mr. Parks was a pureblood while Mrs. Parks was a half-blood), both loved talked to Lily's parents about various things in the Muggle world. They found most of it fascinating, while other things crazy, although they weren't as ignorant as many wizards who had never visited the Muggle world.

Petunia, meanwhile, was staring at Ivy's younger brother, Dillon Parks, who, although only sixteen and therefore three years her junior, had caught her eye. It didn't really surprise Lily - Dillon was certainly good-looking, not to mention funny to be around. Right now he was talking with a few of his friends, a few feet away from Petunia. Lily smirked at her sister but didn't say anything, knowing her sister would just get even madder at her.

Ivy also caught sight of the subject of Petunia's staring, and she rolled her eyes. "Great, another girl for the Dillon fan club."

Lily rolled her eyes at her friend. Even though Ivy often complained about the score of people who liked her brother, Lily knew that she was secretly proud of her little brother. The two were closer than most siblings Lily knew, like herself and Petunia or their friend Sirius Black and his brother Regulus, who was a year younger and in the Slytherin house like the rest of the pureblood Blacks. Sirius hated his family, and was proud that he had been sorted into Gryffindor.

The girls continued talking about their summers for a few more minutes, until they heard the warning whistle, reminding them that the train would be leaving in ten minutes. Both girls turned to their families to say good bye.

"Bye Mum, bye Dad," Lily said, hugging each in turn. She hugged her sister, whispering in her ear, "Bye, Tuney." Instead of answering though, Petunia stiffened in her younger sister's arms and refused to hug her in return. Lily sadly let go of her sister, and reached for her trunk before a hand reached it.

"Here, I'll get that for you."

Lily recognized the voice instantly and looked into the face of James Potter, who had appeared at her side. He was followed by the rest of his group, Sirius, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, and he had a smile on his face, although Lily noticed that for once it didn't seem to be a cocky smirk. Of course, over the last few months of her sixth year, she had become something close to friends with the Marauders, so maybe that was it.

Without waiting for an answer, James had already picked up the trunk and held it with only a little strain showing in his handsome face. Lily rolled her eyes but replied, "Thank you."

Sirius, likewise, had picked up Ivy's trunk, and both girls were free to walk ahead of them, with Sasha safely in Lily's arms.

Finding an empty compartment took a while, but soon the girls, along with the Marauders, had settled into one. Lily relaxed again the cushion, enjoying a few minutes of peace before she had to leave for a prefect meeting - she was Head Girl, so she had to make sure that they were all there and had to run the meeting.

James sat down next to Lily, pretending to yawn with his arms stretched above him before slyly placing an arm around Lily's shoulders. Without even stopping her conversation with Ivy, Lily took his arm off and turned away from him, smiling slightly at Sirius' snickering behind her.

"So, do you have any idea who the Head Boy is," Ivy asked, also ignoring the boys behind Lily. "I guess it could be one of the Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs. I really doubt it'd be a Slytherin..."

Lily nodded. She hadn't been told who the Head Boy would be in the letter she had received over the summer along with her badge, which was in her bag with her robes, waiting for the meeting. "It could be Remus, I guess."

Ivy nodded before looking across the compartment at Remus, who was sitting next to Peter and Sirius. "Hey, Remus, are you the Head Boy?"

Remus shook his head. Despite being in the Marauders, he was always the best behaved, and had managed to be appointed a prefect in his fifth year, along with Lily and Ivy and a handful of other fifth, sixth, and seventh years. Lily noticed a small smile playing across his lips, and she had a feeling that he knew who the Head Boy was.

"Any idea who it is?" Ivy persisted.

Remus nodded, and the smile became slightly more pronounced.

"Who?" Lily asked.

"Me."

Lily turned in shock towards James, who had just answered the question. "_You're_ Head Boy?"

James nodded, the cocky smirk finally returning to his face. "Yep, HB at your service, Ms. Evans."

Lily continued to stare at him. James hadn't even been a prefect the past two years, plus he was one of the biggest pranksters at Hogwarts - there was no way Professor Dumbledore had appointed him Head Boy. But the look on Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter's faces made her suspect this wasn't just another trick and they really were telling the truth, no matter how twisted it might seem, or how impossible.

James laughed at Lily's shock. "Looks like somebody doesn't believe in my perfect behavior that led to this appointment, huh?"

Lily glared at him before looking back at her friend, who was giggling behind her hand. Lily in turn glared at her, but she felt a smile tugging slightly at the corner of her lips. The thought of James as a Head Boy was certainly laughable - even if it were true, there was no way he was going to manage to act like one. In the meantime, it would be funny to watch him try.

After the last of her shock disappeared, Lily continued talking to Ivy before she glanced at her watch and noticed that the prefect meeting would start in about five minutes. She stood up, pulling Ivy up with her, before turning to James. "Well, if you aren't lying, Potter, then it's time to get to that meeting."

James stood up with a smile on his face and led the way with Remus by his side, who was also a prefect. Sirius and Peter, on the other hand, remained behind, taking out something before Ivy closed the door behind the girls. Lily and Ivy hurried to catch up with Remus and Lupin, not possessing their long legs. Soon the four arrived at the large compartment, settling in the bench farthest from the door. Lily ended up next to James yet again, and she glared at him when he brushed a hand by her leg.

The room soon began to fill up with prefects, and then Lily had to start the meeting, ignoring James, who was whispering to Remus about every five seconds.

After she gave all the important information and rules out, Lily turned to her fellow Head with a fake smile on her face. "And now, for some words from your Head Boy!"

James hadn't realized she wanted him to talk, and it took him a few seconds to stand up and address the group. "Well, hello fellow prefects. I guess I only have one thing to say to you," He said, pausing while he scanned his head for an idea of what to say. "And that is, um..."

Lily smirked, waiting for him to say something.

James' face lit up before he finished. "All I want to say is forget the rules - this year is going to be one big party!"

The prefects laughed, and Lily glared at him. James returned with a smile, and sat down next to her, putting his arm around her without even pretending to stretch. Lily glared at him and removed his arm yet again, ignoring her friend's giggling next to them. "Great speech, did you think of that yourself?" Lily asked sarcastically.

James nodded, mock pride on his face. "These brilliant things just come naturally."

Lily groaned. This was going to be a long year.

* * *

**I hope you liked this - please review with thoughts/constructive criticism! I'd love to know what you think so that I can improve and continue doing certain things. Hopefully the next chapter will be up next Sunday (I'm going to try to update once a week) but there's no telling what'll happen between then and now thanks to school and life in general. I'll try to have the next chapter soon though!**


	2. The Friends Status

**As promised, here's the second chapter one week later, on my hopefully regular update day. I was really excited to get two reviews - I was worried that I wouldn't get any! So, thank you bluelotus22 and Loslote. Hopefully this chapter is a good continuation, and hopefully I got all the grammar and spelling mistakes.**

**_Disclaimer: Unlike J.K. Rowling, I do not live in Europe, I don't have more money than the British queen, and I didn't write Harry Potter._**

* * *

Chapter Two: The Friends Status

Lily reached across Ivy's plate to grab an apple from the fruit bowl, placing it next to the huge pile of food already on her plate. It was hard to act like a dainty young lady, like Petunia always did with her small servings at meals, when there was so much delicious food at all Hogwarts meals. It might mean that she and Ivy had to spend their weekends attempting to work out, but it was worth it and didn't affect her too much thanks to her fast metabolism.

Ivy sat next to her, also piling her plate and eating almost everything she could get her hands on. Ivy complained that she was always forced to work so hard on her figure, but Lily knew she was faking it - she played Quidditch, and managed to get five times as much exercise as Lily. Lily spent most of her time inside of the castle, except when Ivy managed to drag her outside.

"So, Evans, you excited to spend every day with me?"

Lily turned to James, who had snagged the seat on her other side. He had another seemingly-genuine smile on his face, and there didn't seem to be any cockiness in it.

She shrugged. "I already have to see your face everywhere - now I get to see it while you're attempting to discipline students. That'll definitely be _interesting_."

James grimaced - he probably wasn't looking forward to attempting to punish students for stuff he had already done himself, but it certainly would be funny to see him try.

Ivy's brother, Dillon, suddenly plopped down across from Lily. He smiled at her before looking at his sister, who was talking to Sirius on her other side. "Hey, Ive, did you hear that Abercrombie's mum is missing?"

Ivy turned to her brother. "Isn't he one of your friends? What happened to her?"

"About a week ago she disappeared on her way home from work. No one knows where she went, although the Ministry certainly has an idea. See, she was a Muggle-born, and some Death Eaters had apparently been stalking her for a few months. They figure they got her, probably killed or tortured her. Lucas Abercrombie is still at home - not sure if he's even going to come back to school this year."

Lily recalled some of the stuff she had read about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the _Daily Prophet_ that morning. It had suggested that he had been behind some Muggle attacks - perhaps he was going after Muggle-born witches and wizards now. Lily shivered - everyone knew about her parentage, especially after Severus Snape, her former friend, had called her a Mudblood in front of all the other students back in fifth year. Certainly she'd be safe in Hogwarts, though, right?

James seemed to have noticed her shivers; he grabbed her hand and squeezed it, smiling warmly as he whispered, "Don't worry, Evans, you'll be perfectly safe. I'll protect you."

Lily wanted to scoff at his cheesy attempt at being a knight in shining armor, but it really did comfort her. She wanted to know that her friends would have her back in this new, scary world that was slowly beginning to form around her.

James gave her hand another squeeze before letting go of it and returning to his food. The rest of their group, after processing the news, also returned to eating and talking about their summer breaks. The atmosphere became light-hearted once more, and Lily relaxed, letting her worries slip from her mind and instead began thinking about the exciting, although hard, year that she had to look forward to.

The food slowly disappeared and students began getting up and heading back to their dormitories. Soon there were only a few older students and all the first years, who were unsure of where to go. Lily almost forgot about her job until she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see James, who was already standing up. "Come on; let's show the little pipsqueaks how to get to their beds."

Lily nodded and stood up, promising to catch up with Ivy as soon as she was done. She was surprised to see that James had already rounded up all the first years, who looked nervously up at the tall seventh year, who probably looked quite intimidating to the young eleven year olds. Lily couldn't imagine herself, let alone the towering James Potter, as young first years who were so scared of the huge, unknown castle. Lily now considered it to be her real home, much more than the house she lived in for summer break with her sister, who hated her, and her parents, who, though they cared dearly about her, were in a completely different world. She couldn't talk to them about the growing danger in the wizarding world, or about her fears of becoming a target of a man so evil wizards were beginning to fear saying his name. Hogwarts was the place that she felt she could fit into, even though she still stood out for her blood status and intelligence.

"Come on, first years, Gryffindor dormitory is this way!" Lily clapped her hands to get their attention before walking out of the Great Hall, leading the way to the huge portrait of the Fat Lady. James easily caught up to her with his long legs, his hands in his pants pocket and a bemused expression on his face. "So, do we just need to show them to their rooms and then we're done with them?"

"Yep, that's all we have to do. Although we'll have to make sure to keep an eye on them for the first few weeks, make sure that they're doing alright." Lily glanced back to the first years, slowing down when she realized that even her pacing, hampered by her short legs, was too big for the young children. Realizing that Lily was falling behind, James also adjusted his own pacing and returned to Lily's side.

The rest of the walk went in silence, the first years too nervous to talk to each other, until Lily finally stood in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. In all of her seven years of education at Hogwarts, Lily had never seen the Fat Lady look different - always the same frilly ball gown and ringlets of brown hair that framed her aged face. Lily couldn't believe that this was the last time she was ever going to see the Fat Lady on the first day of school.

James coughed loudly, returning Lily's attention to the impatient first years. Then she realized that she had completely forgotten the password. She had told the old Gryffindor prefects herself, but now she couldn't remember what it was. She turned helplessly to James. Before she could even admit her mistake, he smiled and turned towards the portrait. "Nargles," he stated clearly, smiling as the portrait swung open to reveal the hole to the Gryffindor common room.

The red and gold room was just as cozy as ever, and Lily desperately wanted to fall into one of the comfy armchairs that was in front of the roaring fireplace. But she first showed the five first year girls the room they would occupy for the next seven years, noting how similar it was to her own room, which was the first room in the girls' corridor.

After leaving the girls to settle into their new room, Lily hurried down to the common room and immediately fell across the first armchair in front of the fireplace, her legs hanging over one arm, her head resting on the other. She stared into the fire, not wanting to think about how this was her last year, and how far she had come since she had been a young first year who had seven years of educational life at Hogwarts before she had to worry about her future.

A shadow loomed next to her head, and Lily turned to see James sitting in the armchair next to her own. He smiled at her before turning to the fire, the flames reflecting in his hazel eyes. His raven black hair was messy, as it always was, and his glasses were slipping down his nose. Lily watched the expression on his face; it seemed to be one of thoughtfulness, as if he was trying to concentrate on something he didn't really want to think about. That was a feeling Lily knew well. She pulled herself into a sitting position, her legs folded up underneath her arms. "What's up, Potter? You look like you're thinking about something deep."

Rather than smiling and cracking some smart-aleck remark, James continued to stare into the fire. "I was just thinking about Abercrombie's mum. She went to school with my parents; she was roommates with my mum. And now she's missing, all because of her parents. She didn't do anything wrong purposely, she just happened to get magical abilities while no one else in her family did. There's no justice in the situation."

Lily frowned. She hadn't realized that James even knew Lucas Abercrombie and his family. Lucas was one of Dillon's friends, although not very close, and a year younger than them. He hadn't hung around them much, but Lily knew of him from Dillon, plus Hogwarts wasn't too big a school to lose track of people like that. She had never seen James caring about anyone other than his close friends. This was a side she didn't know, and she wasn't exactly sure how to deal with it.

When James remained silent, Lily got up and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders. She felt James relax beneath her arms, and she smiled to herself. This would be a difficult year, but maybe it'd be alright.

* * *

"Lily, I know that you enjoy your sleep but you have to wake up _now_," Ivy insisted from the side of Lily's bed, trying to pull the covers off of her. Lily merely groaned and pulled harder.

"Come on, Ive, it's only seven! Classes don't start until 9 or something. Can't I sleep?" Lily whined, sticking her head underneath her pillow.

Ivy slumped on her bed next to Lily, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at her best friend. "Lily, I thought you'd at least break your habit of sleeping in on the first day. Don't you want to hurry down to breakfast, stuff your face, and enjoy your last few minutes of freedom with friends instead of burrowed underneath your pillow?"

Lily's response was a simple grunt that was close to a "no."

Ivy groaned before grabbing hold of Lily's pillow. Catching Lily off-guard, Ivy managed to pull it off of her head, exposing her red mane to the empty room, which their three other roommates had already left a while ago.

Lily slowly pulled herself up, her eyes open a tiny slit and a huge yawn escaping her lips. She stretched her arms high above her head as she glared at her friend. "Thanks for that, Ive. Good to see that I can always count on my friends, no matter what."

Ivy rolled her eyes. "Oh, stop being such a drama queen. You should be happy that I bothered to wake you up - I could have left you in bed, and you'd probably sleep through breakfast, and maybe even first class. Then you'd be yelling at me for _not_ waking you up, instead of the opposite."

Even though she knew her friend was right, Lily continued to glare at her as she got up and went to the bathroom, quickly taking a shower before pulling on her uniform. The skirt was about a centimeter shorter - maybe she had actually grown that summer! - and the white blouse had a small ink stain near the bottom, but it was barely noticeable and Lily couldn't be bothered to get a new one. Besides, she could always clean it up with her wand, although she never had it with her when she was thinking of it.

Coming back out into the bedroom, Lily saw Ivy was already standing impatiently at the door, her own uniform slightly wrinkled from being stuffed into her trunk and just pulled out about five minutes before. Lily walked over to her friend and they set off down the steps to the common room, already talking about their classes for that day. They were discussing Potions when suddenly Lily ran into something - make that, someone.

"Are you sleepwalking, Evans? Did you really want to see me that much?"

Lily sighed and glared up at James, who towered over her. "No, I just failed to notice such a waste of space."

"Are you calling me pointless, Evans? Because I think there are _plenty_ of girls at this school who would disagree with you, not to mention my dear ol' mum. Are you insulting my mum?" James pretended to act offended, but Lily could see the curve of a smile on his lips and the trace of a laugh in his voice. She rolled her eyes and quickly stepped around him, not bothering to wait for Ivy.

Ivy caught up with her anyway, a smirk on her face. "Well, that sure gets the year off to a great start, doesn't it?" Lily's response was a grunt. "Are you saying that you aren't completely pleased to see James after such a _long_ and _lonely_ summer?" A second grunt followed. "You know, for such a smart girl, you really need to expand your vocabulary."

This time Lily groaned. "Can we _please_ talk about something else? Preferably something about you?"

Ivy laughed, elbowing Lily as they walked down to the Great Hall. By the time they reached the Gryffindor table, they were laughing about Ivy's summer vacation with her family's friends, the Longbottoms, who had spent a week in their summer house back in July. Frank Longbottom, their only son, spent all of his time writing letters to his girlfriend, Alice, or talking about her with Ivy and Dillon. After four days straight of that, Ivy and Dillon spent the rest of the week trying to hide from him.

Lily sat down at the table, grabbing a bagel as James and his friends sat down around the two girls. Lily silently groaned but she merely spread some cream cheese on her bagel as she stared across the table at Ivy, who was already talking to Sirius, laughing about a story he was telling. _Traitor_, Lily thought to herself.

"So, Evans, how would you like to spend the first Hogsmeade weekend with me?" James asked, a cocky grin on his handsome face. Lily desperately wanted to smack him.

"Sorry, I'm allergic to egotistical players who have nothing better to do with their time than pull childish pranks and ask girls out." Lily smiled sweetly, making her voice sound apologetic. Ivy giggled into her hand on the other side of the table, and Sirius and Peter laughed loudly, while Remus smirked.

Even with the comeback and its reaction, James remained unflappable, without a trace of red across his cheeks. He let out a genuine laugh and slung his arm around Lily's shoulder, giving it a huge squeeze which Lily was unable to get out from under. She grimaced at Ivy, but she merely shrugged with a knowing smile on her face.

"Evans, you are a clever one. You sure know how to make all of this so much fun."

Lily was about to return with another comeback when she felt a hand on her shoulder, which was still partially covered by James' arm. She turned around, a blush growing on her pale cheeks as she took in the sight of Professor Slughorn, the Potions teacher. He had a smile visible through his straw-colored moustache and his large belly was jiggling with the laugh he was trying to repress. Lily quickly shook James' arm off her shoulder and tried to calm down and get rid of the blush that added way too much color to her otherwise pale face. "Hello, Professor Slughorn. How are you today?"

"I'm doing very well, Ms. Evans, although I'm not having nearly as much fun as you young people seem to be having!" The laugh grew bigger as he let it out. "Oh, to be young and in love again!"

Lily quickly stammered out a response, something along the line of: "Oh, we're just friends, nothing's happening, we're just being teenagers and having fun, you know."

"Of course, Ms. Evans, I slightly remember having fun like that when I was your age, _eons_ ago," he said with a seemingly-knowing wink.

The blush grew and Lily looked down at her hands, which were even pink-tinted. "So, did you want to ask me something, Professor?"

"Oh, yes, that's right. I just wanted to tell you that the Slug Club is having a back-to-school dinner this Sunday night. I know that's after your first week is over, but it'll hopefully be a great 'last hurrah' before school really starts up and you young people are overwhelmed by your immense workload. I hope you'll take the time out of your busy social life to come on Sunday, and maybe you can bring your great _friend_ here. You're welcome to come, Mr. Potter," Slughorn let another wink slip, acting as if he was in on an inside secret with them.

"We'd love to come, Professor!" James replied with an equally 'knowing' smile on his face, grabbing Lily again and beaming up at Slughorn. "We'll see you on Sunday."

"Splendid! I'll be anxiously awaiting Sunday night now," Slughorn smiled. "Now, I'll leave you youngsters a chance to continue your conversation. I'll see you in Potions later!"

Lily smiled at her professor as he walked away, but as soon as he was out of sight she dropped the smile and turned to James, a glare on her face. "Why did you accept the invitation? I don't want to go to that dinner with you!"

James merely smiled and ate his breakfast silently, which annoyed Lily even more. She spent the rest of the meal glaring at her bagel and barely taking a bite of it before Ivy was getting up across from her and heading to their first class, conveniently leaving Lily alone with James. Lily didn't even notice it until James stood up and towered over her, the cocky smile returning to his face. "Well, Evans, are you coming? Won't want to be late for our first Charms class, would we?"

That was when Lily noticed that the Great Hall was nearly empty and her best friend was nowhere to be found. She grumbled to herself as she got up, grabbed her bag, and tried to hurry towards Charms before James could catch up to her. Unfortunately his long legs continued to help him and he caught up to her in no time.

"So, Evans, I didn't realize you thought of me that way."

Lily glanced at James, a questioning look on her face. "What do you mean?"

James chuckled. "Well, you told Slughorn that we were friends. I was unaware that we had made it past the stage where you hated my guts and I asked you out 24/7. Glad to know we've finally moved onto the friends part, especially knowing what comes after that..."

Lily groaned. She hadn't even noticed she had referred to James as her friend. There was no way she could ever live that down - James would remind her until the day she died.

"So, now that we're friends, would you like to come to Hogsmeade with me?"

Lily was about to reply with another scathing remark when she caught sight of the wall in front of them. There were words crudely written on it, in some sort of red ink. Looking closer, Lily noticed it dripping onto the floor and gulped as she noticed how much it looked like blood.

James noticed that Lily had stopped and he followed her gaze to the follow, a look of anger growing onto his face. He read the message aloud.

"Mudbloods are no better than Muggles, and deserve the same punishment: a nice dose of Avada Kedavra."

* * *

**Not much action in this chapter, more of a filler, but I hope you liked it anyway! Next chapter will hopefully be up next Sunday, sooner if you're lucky and I get many reviews, but most likely next Sunday. But please review - I'd love to see what you think!**


	3. Writing on the Wall

**Chapter three is done, and it's longer than the last two, although not by a whole lot. Thank you again, bluelotus22, for reviewing the last chapter. Hopefully I'll get some more reviews this time, but just having one is better than none! Since it's the holiday weekend, and I don't have any school tomorrow, I might finish the next chapter sooner, but no promises. I'll do my best to have it up next Sunday though, since that's my 'regular update day' right now. But for now, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I really hope I got all the spelling and grammar mistakes!**

**_Disclaimer: Rather than owning the rights to Harry Potter, I read the books, watch the movies, and try to finish watching A Very Potter Musical (it's hilarious but I never have the time to watch it!)._**

* * *

Chapter Three: Writing on the Wall

Lily stared at the wall, rereading the message that James had just spoken aloud: "_Mudbloods are no better than Muggles, and deserve the same punishment: a nice dose of Avada Kedavra_." The message was definitely written in blood, and looked quite fresh. Lily's knees felt weak, but before she could crumble to the ground, James grabbed her and held her up. They both stared at the message as footsteps approached them. They turned around, James leading Lily since she was unable to really get anything through her head.

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore stood there, a calm expression on his face as he took in the scene. Class had started by then, and the corridor was completely empty except for the three of them. Even as Dumbledore read the message, his expression didn't change, although his eyes did narrow slightly and gain a hard edge to them. His stare moved down to Lily and James, silently taking them in. "What is going on here, may I ask?"

There wasn't any anger in his voice, or disappointment - there was only a question in it.

When Lily was unable to answer, James cleared his voice before replying. "Well, Professor, you see, we were heading to Charms class - we were a little late because we were still eating before realizing how late it had gotten - and we were walking when we saw the message and we stopped because it was a huge shock and then Lily seemed to be in a really big shock and I was trying to comfort her and we were staring at the message when we heard you come up behind us and we turned around and then... well, that's all."

Dumbledore let a little chuckle slip out at James' nervousness. "Thank for that detailed explanation, but take a breath next time."

James laughed nervously, and then glanced back at the message and seemed to sober up completely. He glanced down at Lily, who was starting to shiver now, and he clamped his arm around her shoulders and gave them a squeeze. Lily didn't glare at him or even react.

Dumbledore's face melted into concern. "Mr. Potter, maybe you should take Ms. Evans to the hospital wing before I speak to you."

James nodded, but Lily finally spoke. "No, I'm fine, Professor. If you want us to come to your office to talk, I'm happy to."

Dumbledore smiled and nodded, but the concern remained on his face as his gaze focused on her face. "Well, if that's the case, then let's go to my office and I'll send Mr. Filch to try and clean this up."

James nodded again and began following Dumbledore, leading Lily along with him. The three walked silently down the corridor, heading in the direction of the headmaster's office. They reached a huge golden statue of a bird which guarded the door to the office.

"Pumpkin Juice!" Dumbledore shouted, and the bird jumped aside and revealed a rotating staircase that led up into the ceiling. Dumbledore stepped on a step and James quickly pulled Lily along with him. Lily began to come out of the shock and stepped in front of him onto her own step, straightening her uniform and robe.

At the top of the stairs, they stepped into the office; James and Lily took in the sight of the office, which had remained unchanged since the last time they had been in there, which was recently in James' case. Dozens of interesting and unique instruments were scattered around the room, and the walls were covered with portraits of old professors who were staring intently at the arrivals. Lily felt blushing come to her face as she looked down at her simple shoes, wishing she were in Charms right now instead. She felt James grab her hand and give it a comforting squeeze. Lily gave him a small and quick smile before pulling her hand away and walking over to the chair that Dumbledore was indicating in front of his desk. James sat down next to her, glancing quickly at her before turning to their headmaster.

Dumbledore sat down before them, folding his fingers into a steep temple. His small glasses, newly acquired three years ago, were perched halfway up his previously-broken nose. His bright blue eyes seemed to hold more intelligence and humor than anyone else ever had, but right now they were full of seriousness. Lily wanted to slump down in her chair and go back to sleep - the day had been so much simpler when she was hiding underneath her pillow while Ivy tried to get her out of her bed.

"So, perhaps you could repeat your rushed tale from earlier, Mr. Potter?"

James nodded before repeating it, this time slower and with punctuation. Dumbledore nodded and murmured underneath his breath as he listened intently to the story, a wrinkle appearing on his forehead. When James finished, Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his seat. "Thank you, Mr. Potter."

"Professor?"

Dumbledore and James looked at Lily, who was staring at Dumbledore.

"Yes, Ms. Evans?"

"Do you know who did this?"

Dumbledore smiled sadly. "No, Ms. Evans, I'm sorry, but I don't know. Nothing like this has ever happened before."

Lily couldn't help but notice that Dumbledore seemed to be hiding something, but she had a feeling that Dumbledore would have explained if it were really important.

"Professor, is there _anything_ you can tell us? Not to be rude or anything, but as you can see, we're shaken up." James glanced at Lily out of the corner of his eye quickly before returning his gaze to their headmaster.

Dumbledore sighed. "Yes, I suppose an explanation would help, but alas I know little more than you do." He paused before continuing. "As you probably already know, the wizarding world is undergoing a growing threat from a man many refer to as 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.' While I disagree that this man is too dangerous to refer to by name, I do admit that he is very dangerous and is a growing threat. He targets those of un-pure blood, such as you, Ms. Evans. He is out to get rid of all Muggleborns who have gone to Hogwarts and have honed their magical abilities and gone on to become great witches and wizards. He's rounding up followers, known as 'Death Eaters,' and he's likely behind the string of Muggle and Muggleborn disappearances, including the mother of one of our own students, which you've probably already heard about. There are many brave, amazing witches and wizards trying to stop Lord Voldemort and his followers, but it's a continuing battle. Until now, our school has remained completely safe and we haven't had any problems with him, but it seems that we have lost that safety. I wish I could reassure you that we will stop this new threat, but the truth is that we have no way of knowing until we are completely safe again. But I can reassure you two that we will try everything we can, and you shouldn't worry too much. Some of the greatest witches and wizards are employed in this castle and protect it with all their might. I can't give you any guarantees, except this one: we will do our very best to protect all the students in this school, and as long as we are alive, we will not leave our students unprotected and vulnerable."

James nodded and Lily attempted a small smile. She knew that this was the absolute truth, and probably the only adult who would even dare to tell them such a scary truth. It might not be exactly what she wanted to hear, but it certainly was what she _needed_ to hear.

* * *

_Lily walked down an empty corridor of Hogwarts, her wand outstretched in front of her with a little ball of light illuminating the foot of space in front of her. Her footsteps were quiet, but in the silence surrounding her it sounded like a bomb going off. It was cold, almost like she was walking through a refrigerator, and a translucent puff of air escaped from her open lips. Lily's eyes darted around as she looked from wall to wall, glancing at empty picture frames which normally contained chattering people and creatures. No one seemed to be anywhere near her, almost like the castle was completely empty. Lily rubbed her arms, which were covered in goosebumps and looked even paler next to the darkness of her surroundings. _

_A small whisper came from behind her, and as she spun around her wand went out and she was plunged into complete darkness. It was darker than anything she had ever experienced and her panic level immediately went up. Her breathing quickened and she began walking faster, away from the noise behind her. But then she heard another whisper of a noise, almost like cloth brushing against the stone floor beneath her own feet. She could swear she heard ragged breathing, but her own breathing drowned out the sound too much to know for sure. Every time she glanced back over her shoulder, she would see a glimpse of a shape but it would immediately disappear, almost like her eyes were playing tricks on her. _

_"Lily Evans..."_

_Lily gasped and stumbled at the sound of her name, which seemed to reverberate from wall to wall, all around her and yet nowhere. The voice was unknown, neither male nor female, without emotion or direction. She couldn't tell where it was coming from, but she knew that it was close, and was getting closer, as the end of her name reached her much faster. She tried to walk normally, but she kept breaking out into a running pace and would stumble over small things on the floor that she couldn't see. _

_"Lily Evans, are you ready...?"_

_This time Lily really did fall, scraping her knee against the rough stone. She cried out as she saw the sight of a small cut, a message from the nerve endings in her knee telling her that she was injured and it hurt. She glanced back, looking for the voice while she tried to get up. As soon as she was up she took off running, stumbling but staying upright. She ran faster than she ever had, her lungs burning and her stomach cramping up. She wanted to fall to the ground and sleep for years, but she knew that she had to keep going, she had to get away from whatever was following her._

_"Are you ready, ready to die?"_

_Lily caught sight of a cloaked figure coming towards her, like the pictures she had seen of Dementors. She fell for again, this time hitting her head against the floor. She was slower getting up and when she glanced upward she was faced with the figure, who was slowly lowering itself to the ground, beginning to pull its cloak off of its head. "It's time, Lily Evans..."_

_As the figure came closer, Lily tried to look away but she felt like her head was being pulled back, back towards the face. She screamed, trying to stop it but the pull was too strong..._

"Lily!"

Lily felt someone grabbing her shoulders and she screamed again, her eyes opening widely as she took in the sight of James, who was standing in front of her, a scared expression on his face. She tried to understand what was happening - hadn't she just been in a dark hallway, inches away from a cloaked figure. What was happening?

"Lily, are you okay?" James asked, concern mixing with the fear. He shook her slightly, looking into her eyes.

Lily glanced around; she was in her dormitory, the five beds spread out in a fan, her own bed next to one of the windows overlooking the school grounds. She was still in bed, her legs twisted in the sheets and comforter, her pillow on the floor. She was sitting upright, close to the edge, almost falling off. James was standing next to the bed, leaning down slightly to reach her shoulders and look her directly in the face. The room was, luckily, empty, but by the darkening of the sky, it looked like the school day was almost over and her fellow seventh year Gryffindors would be arriving sometime soon.

"Lily?" James asked again, this time with less fear and mostly concern. "Are you okay? Were you having a nightmare?"

Lily nodded slowly - that must have been it, she was having a nightmare. But it had seemed so real, a fact that scared her more than the actual nightmare itself. "Yes, it must have been a nightmare... A really strange, realistic nightmare..."

James slowly let go of her shoulders, lowering himself onto the bed next to her, picking up her pillow and placing it in her lap. "Are you sure that you're okay? You looked pretty freaked out there - I was worried you were having some sort of fit or something. When you started screaming I shook you to wake you up."

Lily nodded and looked down at her hands, which were folded across her pillow and shaking slightly. The dream had seemed _so_ realistic, way too much to be a meaningless night vision.

"What was your dream about, anyway?" James asked, reaching for her shoulder gently and placing his arm reassuringly around it.

Lily sighed before speaking. "Well, I was in a deserted corridor, and it seemed like the entire school was empty. Someone or something was following me, and someone was asking if I was ready to die. Then I fell over and the thing caught up with me. I tried to turn away as it lowered itself down, but some sort of pull was forcing me to look at its face. I was about to see its face when you woke me up." She blushed slightly as she looked back at her hands. "Thanks for that, by the way. That dream _really_ freaked me out - I'm glad to be awake now."

James nodded. "You seemed freaked out, that was for certain. Like I said, I was really worried."

Lily smiled at the show of concern. "How'd you even know I was up here?"

"Well, after we left Dumbledore's office, you just sort of disappeared. You didn't show up to any classes and Ivy didn't know where you were. I figured you just needed some space, time to think and be away from everyone. No one else would be in your room right now, so I guessed and got lucky."

"Wait a minute, how did you get up here?" She suddenly realized that he was here, in the girls' dormitory, which was completely off-limits to guys. There was a magical spell that kept all males from even climbing up the stairs, which would transform into a slide whenever a boy stepped on it. It wasn't possible that James could get up the stairs unless he knew a spell to reverse it or could somehow fly up it.

For one of the first times ever, James looked nervous and he bit his bottom lip. "Well, um, I... I have my ways."

Lily rolled her eyes, her mood improving as she returned to normal, minor irritation from James' vagueness mixing in with the happiness from seeing James squirm.

"And what ways are those?" Lily's left eyebrow rose, a slight smirk creeping onto her face.

"Nothing an innocent mind like yours needs to know," James replied, the cockiness returning to his attitude and a fellow smirk growing on his own face.

"Oh really? And why can't I know?" Lily stood up, crossing her arms across her chest as she looked down at James, for once having the advantage of being taller than him.

"You can't know because your naïve little mind shouldn't be clouded with such things like that. Besides, if you know all my tricks, then how can I continue to sneak up on you and make your life so damn interesting?"

"You think you make my life interesting? So using your little tricks are what keep my life from being a huge long string of mundane days that repeat the same boringness over and over again? I'm sorry that I haven't thanked you for that..."

"Well, now is the perfect time to thank me. I'm all yours," James said, stretching his arms out wide as the grin on his face grew. All he got in return was a pillow in his face. "Hey! What kind of thank you is that? I'm shocked that little Ms. Evans would treat someone who helped her like that!"

Lily scoffed. "Oh, shut up, Potter. If you'd rather I thanked you someway else, tell me and we'll see..."

"How about a kiss right here?" James tapped his lips, which were curled in a huge smile.

"And you really think I'm going to kiss you?"

"Fine, how about here?" James tapped his cheek instead.

Lily smirked and edged to his cheek, enjoying the look on his face, an expression of shock and joy. As her lips neared his cheek, she slowly grabbed another pillow and shoved it into his head, surprising him and knocking him to the side. "Hey! That's not very nice, Evans!"

Lily laughed and jumped away from him. "Well, you aren't a very nice person, Potter."

James grabbed his chest, as if in pain. "Low blow, Evans - you hit me in the heart! My heart is breaking from this horrible insult!"

"Maybe you'll be a pleasanter person with a broken heart."

Lily and James looked towards the door, where Ivy stood with a smirk on her face. "And what are you two little children doing, all alone up here?"

James jumped up and threw his arm around Lily's shoulder. "I was just cheering up Evans here."

Lily rolled her eyes and ducked out of his arm, moving over to her friend. "Thank you for saving me from Super Potter."

Ivy smirked at her friend. "I saved you, huh?" Then she turned to James. "And what are you doing up here in the _girls'_ dormitory? Did you forget that you aren't allowed up here? And how did you get up here anyway?"

"Don't bother, Ive, he's not going to tell you - it's one of his little 'tricks.'"

Ivy nodded, "Ah, secretive little James Potter, too worldly to allow the rest of us in on life's secrets."

"Sorry, I really should be more a giver - I'm trying to work on it," James said, walking over to the door to stand by them.

Lily and Ivy nodded while rolling their eyes at each other, turning towards the door.

"Come on, Lily, let's leave this jerk and head downstairs," Ivy said as she walked through the door.

Lily followed her, heading down the stairs to the common room. James followed behind them, trying to annoy Lily some more.

As they entered the common room, Lily noticed that it was quieter than normal - people were in small clusters, talking amongst themselves and glancing around the room. The fire glowed just as brightly as ever, but this time no one sat in front of it. They seemed to be avoiding it and sticking to the wall closest to the dormitories, far away from the exit behind the portrait of the Fat Lady. There was an aura of fear throughout the room, and Lily immediately knew what they were talking about.

"When did everyone find out?" Lily didn't bother looking at Ivy while she asked, and Ivy didn't bother asking what she was talking about.

"Dumbledore told us at dinner, and that corridor is roped off - no one can get through. Our whole house had to go an alternate way to get back to the common room. No one knows what the message said, but we all know it has the professors worried, and the Slytherins seem to be ecstatic about it, which really screams 'bad' to the rest of us."

_The Slytherins know?_ Lily thought, the statement sticking in her head but getting no answers. Did that mean that a Slytherin was behind it, or one of them found out about it and spread it to the rest of the house?

James glanced at Lily with concern on his face, but Lily merely stared out the window, her mind spinning. She knew this had to mean something, but she just couldn't figure out what. Her mind was too sluggish, screwed up with that day's events and the quick change in mood from easy-going to worry.

The remaining Marauders came up to them, Sirius leading the trio, with Peter lagging behind him and Remus. "Was little James being a naughty boy and sneaking up to the girls' dormitory?"

Remus elbowed him, indicating James' expression of worry and Lily's contemplative expression. Sirius shut up, but Peter, oblivious as always, laughed at Sirius's expression. "Can you sneak us up next time, James? I'd love to see what the girls' rooms look like!"

Sirius glanced back at Peter, who was wearing an expression of complete glee. "Wormtail, you are a complete idiot."

Peter looked completely confused, glancing from Sirius to James and back. "Wait, why are we being quiet?"

"Seriously, Wormtail, how are you going to operate in normal life when you don't have us around?"

Peter thought about the question before shrugging. Sirius rolled his eyes and turned back to his best friend, a questioning look on his handsome face. James shook his head and turned back to Lily.

_The message was obviously anti-Muggleborns, which means, if it's from a student, then chances are it's a Slytherin, so it shouldn't be so surprising that they would know about it or one of them even did it. But it seems too evil, too dangerous to be written by a student. Of course, no one else could have done it, other than a teacher - no one else could get into the school unless Dumbledore let them in, and there was no way he would let someone in who would do something like that. This meant that it had to be someone from the inside, but that was too scary to think about. There has to be something else, something I'm missing,_ Lily thought to herself, continuing to stare out the window and ignoring her friends by her side.

"Is something wrong with Lily?" Peter asked, looking around at the guys and Ivy.

"Seriously, Wormtail. Shut. Up." Sirius didn't even bother looking at Wormtail when he said it.

"What did I say?" Peter asked Remus, who just sighed and turned to Lily.

"Are you alright, Lily? We heard about what happened," he asked, concern also in his voice.

Lily seemed to snap out of a trance as she looked Remus. "Oh, yeah, I'm alright, Remus. I was just... thinking."

"What were you thinking about, Lils?" Ivy asked.

"Oh, nothing." Lily said, trying to get the thoughts out of her head. "It was nothing."

Sirius and Peter nodded and headed to the fireplace, but Remus and Ivy gave her a long look before following them and James continued to stare at her. "What were you thinking about, Evans?"

Lily returned the stare, tilting her head slightly to the side. "It was nothing. Nothing at all."

James didn't turn away. "I don't believe you."

Lily nodded. "I know you don't." And she walked around James, heading back up to her room, not even glancing back at James as she walked away.

* * *

** I hope you liked this chapter, and I _really _hope that you review it! The more reviews, the more I want to write the next chapter...**


	4. To Kiss or Not to Kiss

**Sorry that this is late in the day, but I almost had to wait until tomorrow to finish editing it, so be happy it's here today at all! This chapter is more of a fluff piece anyway - I was going to make it super-long and include the party, but I ran out of time, so it was either a chapter today or a superlong one next Sunday and skip this Sunday, so I decided to go ahead and put it up tonight. Hopefully I got all the spelling and grammar mistakes - I tried to proofread it quickly so I may have missed a little. And thanks to the _four_ reviews I got last time - most I've ever gotten! - from hpmaxridefan24, bluelotus22, XxXxMyNameIsLilyPotterxXxX, and Annunminuialiel (I hope I spelled all of those right - sorry if I didnt!). I hope you enjoy this chapter, even though it's more of a fluff piece, like I said. The next chapter will be Slughorn's party, and hopefully it'll be really long!**

**_Disclaimer: I doubt that the creator of Harry Potter types Fan Fiction stories while eating Wonka Puckerooms Gummies..._**

* * *

Chapter Four: To Kiss or Not To Kiss

The rest of the week went by without too much drama - no more messages written in blood appeared on the walls of the school, and the Slytherins remained remotely well-behaved. James bothered Lily but he never took it too far, always stopping whenever she got really frustrated and even walked on eggshells around her when she was annoyed, rather than pushing it farther. Sirius and James didn't pull any embarrassing pranks on guys who glanced at Lily, and she hung out with Ivy and the Marauders without any arguments cropping up. Peter was his normal stupid self and Remus always managed to keep the peace as much as possible.

The school load grew increasingly high, and by the time the weekend rolled around, Lily and her friends were looking at a huge mound of homework that would take them all weekend if they got lucky. Lily planned to hole herself up in her room until she at least made a dent in the pile, but then Ivy reminded her about her plans:

"So, Lily, you excited for the party tonight?" Ivy asked on Sunday morning, sipping orange juice from her glass as she peered at her friend across the table.

"What party?" Lily asked as she looked up at her friend, confusion clouding her face.

"The Slug Club back-to-school party? The one that Professor Slughorn personally asked you to come to? All I got was an invitation by owl on Tuesday morning," Ivy grumbled, clearly unhappy that she wasn't important enough to be given a personal invitation, even if it were from Slughorn.

Lily gasped, swallowing her own drink down the wrong way and choking for a few seconds before recovering.

"Whoa, Evans, are you okay?" James asked her as he sat down next to her, clapping her on the back, which made her cough even more.

"Yep, I'm fine," Lily said hoarsely, placing her drink down and breathing in deeply. "Just forgot about the party, is all."

"How could you forget about the party - I'm your date! That alone should make it unforgettable!" James said with a grin on his face. Sirius laughed and high fived him, while Peter joined in and Remus rolled his eyes, turning away from his friends and grabbing some food. Ivy smirked but contained her laughter, knowing that Lily would hit her if she laughed.

"Well, despite that _pleasant_ little detail, I forgot completely. I can't go to the party tonight - I have an avalanche of homework waiting for me up on my bed. It'll take me all day and through the night just to get done, let alone relax and enjoy my day. There's no way I can fit the party into my schedule. I'll have to tell Slughorn I can't go."

James shook his head. "Don't be silly Evans, there's no way you're going to miss this party. It's the first time I can force you into being my date and there is no way you're going to bail on me. I'll help you with your homework - just leave it up to Super Potter!"

"And how are you going to help me with my homework? Have you even finished your own homework?" Lily asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"Of course. Have we forgotten: Super Potter? I finished it all this morning, right before heading to breakfast to see my little ray of sunshine," James said, a smile across his face.

"James Potter actually did his homework?" Ivy asked, disbelief on her face. "That's something I would _love_ to see."

"You could actually help me? And you can guarantee that I'm going to finish before the party tonight and don't have to spend the whole night worrying about whether or not I'm going to finish my homework before school tomorrow?" Disbelief was also in Lily's voice, but she could hear the hope mixed in.

"Of course, I guarantee it or else I give you permission to personally kick my arse. Does that sound like a good deal to you?"

Lily thought it over for a minute before holding her hand out to shake. "Deal. You're on. Meet me in my room at ten - use your 'secret ways' to get up there."

James nodded, a smile on his face. "Sounds like a date."

* * *

Lily stared at her huge pile of homework in dismay. It was almost ten o'clock, and James would be up any minute. Ivy was sitting on her own bed, an equally large pile surrounding her as she tried to force herself to work on it without falling asleep. She was half-hoping that James would be right and would help her finish it all even if it meant she didn't get the chance to beat him up and gloat about the fact that she was right and he was wrong.

"So, you're really going to let James help you with your homework? You aren't worried that he's going to spend the whole time asking you out and trying to make out with you or something?" Ivy asked, distracting herself from her homework with the questions. "You can't be _that _desperate - after all, you are Genius Evans, the girl who can never fail a class or even get a bad grade. If you were trying to get some alone time with James you could have come up with a craftier plan than doing homework together."

"Ive! Shut up - I didn't ask James for help so I could make out with him. Besides, I won't be alone with him - you'll be with me."

"Oh goodie, lucky me gets to babysit you and Potter."

"And won't that be the highlight of your day?"

Ivy and Lily both looked at the door, where James stood. He was leaning against the doorframe, his hands in his pockets and a huge smirk on his face, making it glow. His hair was just as unruly as ever, and his glasses were once again slipping down his nose. Lily felt a little bit of regret for inviting him, but that emotion was mixed with a little bit of excitement - things always seemed to be more interesting when James was around, although annoyance was normally included as well.

"How long have you been standing there?" Ivy asked, suspicion evident in her voice.

Lily remembered what Ivy had asked her, and felt a little tinge of blush coloring her cheeks. She hoped he hadn't heard what they had talked about - she didn't want to give him the wrong idea. A glance at his face didn't tell her: the smirk remained on his face but it hadn't grown, which it surely would have done if he had heard. At least, that was what she told herself.

"So, are you ready to help me with my homework? Or do you want to give up now and allow me to personally do something I've always wanted to do to you?"

"Kiss me?" James asked with a hopeful grin.

"You wish. No, I was talking about beating you up, which I've wanted to do since I first met you on the train, back when we were eleven."

"Wow, such a long time. How do you manage to restrain yourself? If I were you I'd just throw myself at me and hit me already. Of course, that's just me..."

"Exactly. And I pride myself on not being like you," Lily said with a huge grin, strutting back to her bed and sitting in the middle of her homework. Ivy also returned to her own work, scribbling some notes down on some stray parchment. James followed Lily and sat down on the edge of the bed and reached for a book, flipping it open and reading a random page in it, his eyes skimming it quickly. "So, what do you want to do first?"

Lily reached for her Defense Against the Dark Arts book and some parchment, tapping her pen against her lip as she thought about the assignment. "Well, for DADA we have to write a foot-long paper about werewolves - different stuff about them. Did you already do that?"

"Of course - I breezed right through it. I'm just gifted like that," James said with a secret smile on his face. "But don't worry - I'll use simple words so that you can understand. Start your paper off with this sentence: 'Werewolves are people who transform into wolves at full moons.'" He paused and grinned at her. "Am I going too fast - should I slow down to make sure that you understand everything I just told you?"

Lily took her Potions book and smacked his shoulder with it. James grimaced and rubbed it briskly. "I think I prefer the pillows."

Lily stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to her paper, writing an opening sentence. "So, know any interesting, obscure facts about werewolves? Growing up in the Muggle world, I never met any, but I'm sure you've met at least _one_."

"Nope, never caught of sight of the wolfmen, although Sirius swears that one attacked him this summer." James lowered his voice and leaned towards Lily. "We don't have the heart to tell him that he was beat up by a Yorkie."

Lily laughed, and Ivy giggled quietly from her bed next to them, trying to ignore them but failing miserably.

"I'm serious - you've never met _any_?"

James shook his head slowly, his face almost impassive, very unusual for the expressive James Potter. "Can't say that I have..."

"Well, I was sure that I saw something running around in the Forbidden Forest last year - or was I just seeing a Yorkie?" Lily asked, a knowing expression sneaking its way onto her face. She knew that James knew one werewolf in particular: Remus Lupin. She had figured it out back in third year, when she first learned the signs and put two and two together. James, Sirius, and Peter went to great pains to protect their friend and his secret, and she didn't have the heart to let them know that she knew the truth. She might use it for leverage in the future, though, in case a situation ever called for it. Right now though she preferred to make James squirm as much as possible.

James gulped slightly but a smile was on his face, masking his worry. "Nope, I think you may have seen a Chihuahua - they're much more vicious and sneaky than Yorkies."

Lily laughed again. "Sure. Just help me with this - I've written almost everything I know about werewolves and I've only got about seven inches of writing."

James leaned forward again, grabbing her paper to read. "It's because you write so damn small, Evans. You need to write bigger, that way you can seem smarter when you write a page and a half of words without running out of things to say. My own paper happens to be two feet long, thanks to my large writing and impeccable knowledge in this field of study." James tapped Lily's head with his finger. "Use this, Evans, and you'll go far in life."

"Ha ha, Potter. Shut up and help me."

"Oh, is Ms. Evans getting frustrated with Super Potter? However can I make it up to you?" James asked with a pout on his face and puppy-dog eyes. "Can I kiss it to make it better?"

"You have a huge fascination with kissing, Potter. Is it because secretly you're a romantic at heart who dreams forever about kissing a girl and nothing more?"

"No, Evans, I just have a fascination with kissing _you_. Ms. Parks over here, meanwhile, could cause me to vomit if I ever thought of kissing her."

Ivy glared at James, her own DADA paper on her lap and full of smudges and cross-outs. "Watch it, Potter - Lily has been helping me with my hexes."

"If it makes you feel better, I'd much rather kiss you than Wormtail, although you tie with Moony. And Padfoot _definitely_ has you beat."

"Thanks, my self-esteem has skyrocketed now that I know that I'm less important than Sirius Black."

"Don't forget - you're higher up than Peter!" Lily said with fake enthusiasm in her voice, but a genuine grin on her face. Ivy glared at her.

"Just go back to your homework, you lovebirds," Ivy sing-songed, cherishing the grimace on Lily's face and the grin on James'.

"Aw, we go from friends to lovebirds? I didn't know you cared so much, Evans!" James smiled as he handed back her paper, which he had filled while they were talking. He had even managed to copy her handwriting perfectly so that it looked like she had actually written it.

"You know my handwriting well enough to forge it? How did that happen?" Lily asked, her right eyebrow rising about the left with the question written across her face.

"It's because he steals every paper you throw away and sticks it in our room - the wall behind our beds is a homage to papers you've written on, which is really annoying since I would like to hang up pictures of hot girls and Quidditch, but what can I say - he's my best mate!" Sirius answered from the doorway, which he had also managed to sneak his way up to, probably the same way that James had gotten up about twenty minutes ago. Lily glanced at Ivy, who was sitting up a little straighter but otherwise unchanged, still poring over her homework.

"Why look, Ive, it's the guy that's got you beat," Lily said, continuing to look at her friend.

"How do I beat Ivy - is it my good looks, my charm, my wicked Quidditch skills, or my overall personality?"

"Nope - you're higher up on the list of people Potter would like to kiss," Lily answered with a sly grin, looking at James who was pretending to have a coughing fit.

"I thought you were doing homework up here, not discussing who you'd like to snog most!"

"We were having a very interesting homework-related conversation before you showed up," James said, the right side of his mouth curling into a half-smile.

"What about?" Sirius asked, tossing James and Lily around as he jumped onto the bed in his excitement.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Lily said with a smirk on her face.

"Prongs, you've corrupted her - she used to be a good little prefect who did everything she was told! Tell me, Evans, please!" Sirius pleaded as he reached across the stack of work, attempting to copy James' puppy-dog eyes and failing miserably.

"Sorry, Black, but you're going to have to deal with disappointment. Not everyone can be handed everything on a silver platter with the Black crest on it."

"Ooh, low blow, Evans," James said with a smile, laughing at the expression on his friend's face. "Now you've really hurt him."

"Fine - I'm going to go over to Parks' bed, where I'm appreciated," Sirius said with a sniff, plopping down on Ivy's bed and almost knocking her to the ground from the sudden movement. "Will you tell me what they were talking about, Ive?"

"Not as long as you're above me on the list," Ivy said, not bothering to look up as she worked on her Charms paper, having pushed aside her DADA paper for a short break. Sirius pouted again and crossed his arms over his chest like a young child who wasn't getting his way. "Good to see that I have such great pals."

Ivy continued to ignore him and Lily and James had already moved on to Transfiguration homework, both attempting to change the nearby bed into a small cat.

Silence enveloped the room as the four worked, whispers about homework being traded between Lily and James and Sirius attempting to help Ivy and only annoying her. The hour and minute hands on the clock down in the common room moved quickly as the hours slipped away and the time of the party approached silently. Lily forgot about her plans for the night and even her annoyance with James as the pile of work to do got smaller and the finished homework grew on the floor next to her. Ivy also made her way through her own pile despite the 'help' from Sirius.

Finally, glancing at her watch, Ivy cleared her throat to get her friends' attention. "Um, hate to break the skull session but the party is in an hour. We should probably get ready soon."

James slammed the Potions book shut, a satisfied smile on his face. "Perfect timing - we just finished the last bit of work. Now I can leave Evans to get all dolled up so that she can look simply smashing at the party tonight."

Lily glared at James as she put the books in a pile at the foot of the bed, rubbing at the ink on her hand. "Shut up, Potter - you'll be lucky if I spend ten minutes getting ready for this party."

"Come on, Evans - we finished early so that you can spend all this time prettifying yourself!"

"Are you suggesting that I need an hour to look pretty, Potter?" Lily asked, her right eyebrow arching above the other as she narrowed her eyes and placed her fists on her hips.

"Of course not," James said quickly the same time as Sirius said, "Of course!"

Ivy and Lily glared at Sirius while James laughed.

"Oh, Evans, don't listen to that jerk - you look very lovely! Here, I'll prove it to you..."

Lily looked at James questionly when he leaned in and suddenly kissed her on the cheek. Lily gasped and pushed him off the bed.

Sirius, Lily, and Ivy leaned over the sides of the beds and looked at James, who was lying on his back in between them. He had a dreamy smile on his face and was looking at Lily, who blushed as she felt the spot on her cheek which James' lips had just touched.

"I'd say I were sorry, but I'm not. Took me a while but I'm glad I did it." James said as he high-fived Sirius, who was laughing at his friend.

"Well, are you still glad you did it now?" Lily asked as she held the pile of books in the air above James. James looked worried but shook his head.

"Nope, still glad I did it."

"I see," Lily said with a smile on her face as she released the books.

"Oof!" James cried out as his chest cushioned the fall of the books. "Ok, now I regret it a little..."

"Maybe this will help you choose a side," Lily said as she jumped off of the bed and landed on his chest along with the books.

As James gasped for breath and Sirius and Ivy broke out into huge bursts of laughter, Lily walked proudly to the bathroom connected to their room. Before she closed the door, she glanced back at James. "Sorry, I would help you get out from under those books but I should really start getting ready so that I look smashing in time for the dance."

And with that Lily closed the door shut with a grin.

* * *

**I hope you liked it - please review, it'll help inspire me to write the next chapter! And I'll try to make the next one much longer and more interesting, although we'll just have to wait and see...**


	5. Partying the Night Away

**I'm so sorry that I was MIA for the past two Sundays - first we had company and then homecoming took up all my time and I wasn't able to finish this chapter until this week. I probably won't be able to get a chapter up next Sunday so I'll try to put it up before, but if that doesn't work I'll put it up on Monday. I'm so sorry that I didn't reply to any reviews, I'll make sure to do that next time, but I'd like to thank bluelotus22, The Stag and the Doe, and wisegirlwiseeyes! Reviews always make me happy and more likely to write (hint, hint...) So I hope you enjoy this chapter - it's not the greatest but I hope that it was partially worth the wait!**

_**Disclaimer:**_** I doubt the writer of Harry Potter would put off writing it over being lazy...**

* * *

Chapter Five: Partying the Night Away

Lily stood in front of her mirror, staring at her reflection looking back at her. James and Sirius had left their dormitory about thirty minutes ago, and Ivy, who was standing right next to Lily in the bathroom, was almost ready. They were both dressed up, taking advantage of their lack of school robes.

"Are you ready, Lily?" Ivy asked, running her brush through her hair one last time before heading towards the door. Lily took one more look at her mirror, giving her reflection another glance, deciding it was good enough. She gave her friend a smile and headed out into the dormitory after her, grabbing some shoes and slipping them on. The two girls then headed downstairs, laughing with each other as they caught sight of the boys lounging in front of the fireplace, dozing off as they waited for them. Peter was stuck on the floor, sleeping on his side; Remus was curled up in the far-left armchair; Sirius was in the far-right armchair, his legs sprawled out in front of him; and James was in the middle armchair, his legs and head over the sides of the chair. The girls laughed again and came up behind them. Ivy grabbed Sirius' legs and pulled him out of the chair while Lily pushed James off of his own chair, knocking the boys onto Peter and ignoring Remus, who woke up at the sound of the falling with a knowing smile on his face as he looked down at his friends, all on the floor.

"We didn't take _that_ long, Potter," Lily said, looking down at James from her position high above the boys, her fists planted on her hips and a cocky smile across her face.

James pushed himself up into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes and attempting to wake up. Sirius was rubbing his head, grimacing as he looked at Ivy, who was also smiling next to her friend.

"Who said you took too long? I never said that. Did you hear me say that, Padfoot?" James asked, trying to turn the situation in his favor.

Sirius shrugged. "You're on your own, mate - I should probably head to the hospital wing and see if I have a _concussion_," Sirius said, glaring at Ivy, who merely giggled behind her hand.

"Fine, help me up, will you, Evans?" James held out his hand with an innocent expression on his face.

Lily scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Do you really think I'm going to fall for that?"

"Fall for what?" The innocent expression remained on his face.

"When I help you up, you're going to pull me down to the ground with you. I'm not stupid, Potter."

"I swear I won't, Evans. Now will you please help me up?" James said, looking frustrated. Lily narrowed her eyes, looking at his face carefully before grabbing onto his outstretched hand.

Pulling James up, using a lot of strength, Lily was relieved and slightly surprised that James didn't try to pull her down, instead allowing himself to be pulled up and helping her a little, smiling in thanks. When he was up on his legs, his hand lingered in Lily's before he pulled it away and looked towards his other friends who remained on the ground.

"Will you help me up, Ive?" Sirius asked with a cocky smile on his face.

Ivy groaned and grabbed a pillow from the chair that Sirius had been sitting in, aiming it at his head. Sirius jumped up and ran away from Ivy, who followed his with a huge supply of pillows and other objects to throw at him.

Lily and James laughed at their friends, with Remus chuckling in his seat and Peter watching in disbelief on from the floor. The fire crackled behind them, and the entire room was flooded with the warmth from the flames and the joy of friendship that was surrounding them.

Leaning downward, James whispered in Lily's ear, "Wanna leave before they notice?"

Lily smiled and nodded, turning and sneaking towards the door. Remus saw them but merely smiled, a seemingly knowing grin, and remained where he was while their other friends were too busy to notice them sneaking out.

Once they were out of the common room, they slowed down, walking in comfortable silence. Their steps were in sync, which meant that James slowed down and kept his paces small. Lily smiled but didn't comment, instead looking ahead at the hall. Then she caught sight of someone at the other end.

"Damn."

James looked down at Lily, a smirk on his face. "Have I driven you to curse? I'm dreadfully sorry for corrupting you, little Ms. Evans."

Lily rolled her eyes. "No, I was cursing because of the guy at the end of the hall."

James looked where she was indicating, his eyes narrowing into a glare when he recognized the greasy hair and lanky form. "What's Snivellus doing near the Gryffindor common room?"

"I don't know, but I'd rather not see him."

James nodded, glancing around the hall for a place to hide. Spotting a tapestry, he grabbed Lily and pushed her towards it, pulling it aside to reveal a small hallway that barely fit them both.

"What are you doing?" Lily hissed under her breath, glancing back towards where Severus was walking towards them, unaware of them at the moment.

"Trust me, it's a shortcut. We can get to the party without having to see that jerk."

Lily sighed but headed into it, squeezing to make room for James, who didn't seem to mind the close quarters at all.

"How long is this tunnel?" Lily asked, frustration evident in her voice as she felt James' hand brush her back.

"It'll take about twenty minutes to get to Slughorn's room."

"I thought you said this was a shortcut - that's just as long as it would take to get there if we had gone the normal way!"

"Would you rather walk that way and run into Snivellus?"

Lily pursed her lips but remained silent, practically feeling the cockiness rushing off of James.

"Of course, if you walked faster we'd get there sooner."

"Sorry that some of us don't have mile-long le- hey!" Lily growled as James pushed her forward by slapping her butt. "If you do that again I'm going to curse you."

James laughed but he kept his hands to himself for the moment.

The next few minutes went by in silence, the only sound their footsteps beneath them. Lily rubbed her hands up and down her arms, regretting wearing short sleeves. Goosebumps had risen up all over her arms, and she could feel her legs breaking out, too. She didn't even notice that she was slowing down until James ran into her, grabbing above her elbows to steady her.

"Whoa, you're frozen, Evans. Guess I should have mentioned how cold it is in here..."

"S-shut-t-t-t u-p-p, P-pot-t-t-er-r," Lily stammered as her teeth chattered, the cold enveloping her entire body. She wished she had sounded stronger but the cold was getting to her too much.

James wrapped his arms around her, taking advantage of her current state to pretend to help her.

"Get-t-t off o-f-f m-e-e, P-po-t-ter," Lily attempted to growl but still failed. James laughed and continued to run his much-larger hands up and down her frozen arms. Lily tried to twist out from under his grip but he had strong muscles thanks to Quidditch, plus he was much bigger than she was. She gave up after a few moments and walked forward, James following her perfectly so that his arms remained in the same position.

They continued walking in silence, Lily's breath fluffing out in front of her. She was still cold, but the warmth emanating from James' body was already warming her up and she even felt a blush starting to come to her cheek. She was suddenly aware of how close James was to her and how it would look if someone saw her, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to attempt getting out of his hold again.

Soon they were reaching the end of the tunnel, small spots of light streaming in through the edges of the hidden entrance. Lily pushed through the matching tapestry, blinking in the light, unable to really see her surroundings.

"Someone looks cozy."

Lily's head shot to the side quickly, her eyes adjusting to the lighting and taking in the sight of Sirius and Remus, who had come from the hall that Lily and James would have taken under normal circumstances. Sirius was smirking and Remus was even chuckling to himself. Lily tried to get out of James' hold again but he was still holding on too tightly.

"Evans here was cold and I was merely warming her up," James said, humor evident in his voice.

"Based on the bright red color on her cheeks, I'd say she's quite warm now." Sirius laughed.

Lily groaned, still struggling against James' arms. "Shut up, Black."

"Why'd you go through the tunnel? I thought you liked to avoid it because it was so cold and long," Remus asked him seriously.

Lily glared up at James. "I thought you said it was the same distance."

"OK, it might have been a little longer, but would you really like to talk to Snivellus?"

Lily became silent again. Noticing her lack of struggle, James gave her a squeeze and let go of her. Lily shot away, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So, what are you guys doing here?"

"Heading to the party. We were following Ivy but she ran ahead and I guess she already showed up at the party. But now we get to chaperone you lovely children!" Sirius said, slinging his arms around James and Lily and patting them both on the head condescendingly. They began walking towards Slughorn's room with Remus walking behind them.

Soon they arrived at the door, which was open wide. The four stepped into the room, looking at it with slight awe.

The room was supposedly just as big as all the other professors' offices, but it appeared to be twice as big. The walls were a rich shade of crimson and silver trimmed all the edges of the room. Lavish gold curtains hung from the windows and a huge deep blue Oriental rug was spread across the center of the room. Lights hung from all the edges of the ceilings, giving the room a warm glow. Overstuffed chairs were pushed to the sides to allow tired partygoers to take a break among the millions of colorful throw pillows. A huge table taking up an entire side of the room was covered with delicious meals straight from the kitchen and another layer of surface above it was stacked high with desserts to fill all the remaining space in stomachs. The room was also filled with two or three dozen people crammed into as many places as possible. There were students who were qualified for the Slug Club and a few professors who had also been invited, and there were a few adults who were probably well-connected guests of Slughorn. Though the room was incredibly crowded with all the people and objects, Lily felt like she was in the happiest place in the world, even if only for the night.

Lily walked further into the room, Remus on one side and James on her other side. Lily caught sight of Ivy on the other side of the room, talking with a Ravenclaw, but she instead looked for the host of the party. Soon enough she saw him about five feet away, talking to a man in his early twenties who was listening to a story with a yawn not far away. Lily laughed to herself about the poor man's fate.

Lily left the Marauders' sides and headed over to the table of food, grabbing some food and heading to one of the chairs, wanting to just curl up and sleep but knowing that it would look less anti-social if she was at least eating something.

James plopped down next to her, a smile on his face. "So, some party, huh?"

Lily nodded, biting down on a tasty brownie and watching all the people dancing and talking. Everyone was happy and carefree, and Lily felt herself swept up in the emotion of it all. She felt a smile tugging at her lips and she leaned back in her seat with a sense of ease.

"So, Evans, how would you like to dance?"

Lily looked up at Sirius, who had walked up to the two of them.

"Why would you want to dance with me? Isn't there already a new flavor-of-the-week for the player Black?" Lily asked with a smirk.

"Touché, Ms. Evans. I was merely asking to annoy my friend over there," Sirius said, indicating James next to him, who was looking annoyed.

Lily laughed and threw her balled-up napkin at Sirius.

"Well, you didn't answer me, Evans. Yes or no?"

Lily scrunched up her face as she thought. Then she turned to James with an innocent smile on her face. "Would you like to dance with me, Potter?"

James' face began to glow. "I'd love to."

He reached for her hand, guiding her to the center of the room, sticking his tongue out at Sirius as they passed.

Lily stood up on her tiptoes, reaching to his ear. "That was mature, Potter."

"Who cares about maturity? You chose me over Padfoot - I could jump up and down!"

"How about you just dance instead and we can get this night over with," Lily shot back.

James smiled widely and he immediately started dancing, his energy spreading to Lily quickly.

After dancing in silence for a while, James opened his mouth, not even sounding winded from all the movement. "Did I tell you about the room I found the other day?"

Lily shook her head.

"Well, I was looking for a place to hide from Filch - don't ask why, you don't want to know - and I happened to pass this door I'd never seen before. So I quickly went in it and it turned out to be this _huge_ room full of random objects. It looked like it was at least a mile long. No idea how I didn't see it before. But there were some really strange things in there - a huge chest, random books, a crown, an ancient couch... It seems like anything you can think of was in there."

"Where is this room?"

"Well, that's the thing - I can't remember. I thought I did, but when I headed back it wasn't there. I'm wondering if there's some magic on it."

Lily thought about it. "Maybe there's something in the library. We could check it out, if you want."

James smiled eagerly. "I could think of nothing better than spending some alone time with you, Ms. Evans."

Lily rolled her eyes but there was a small smile on her face. "We could check it out tomorrow after classes. Unless you have Quidditch practice..."

James shook his head. "We have practice Tuesday through Thursday plus an early morning practice on Saturday, but nothing on Monday. I'd be delighted if you would join me in the library."

Lily nodded. "Sounds good with me."

"Um, excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, your attention please!"

Lily and James looked towards Professor Slughorn, who had stopped the music from his position near the back of the room, holding a champagne bottle in his meaty hands. "I'd like to interrupt your socializing for a small toast!"

He held the bottle up in the light, popping off the stopper with his wand. He brushed some dust off of it, a chuckle coming from his throat. "Looks like the house elves aren't doing their job very well. At least that means it's antique!"

The crowd laughed politely, and all the underage students clamored for the glasses of alcohol that were quickly filling up all by themselves. James got out his own wand and nonverbally got two glasses to come flying towards them.

"That's pretty good for a nonverbal spell. Didn't realize you were so good at them," Lily said with surprise and a little bit of praise in her voice. James smiled somewhat humblely.

They both sipped at the champagne, the bubbles making Lily slightly tipsy. She hadn't had much alcohol in her life and wasn't the greatest at holding it. She continued drinking it anyway, loving how it made her look more sophisticated. Plus, she figured it wasn't as bad as drinking beer or other teenage party alcohol standards. And, though she hated to admit it, she thought it might make her look less like the normal, rules-following Lily and more like the adventurous girl she wish she was.

After finishing off the drink, the two began dancing again, Lily more loose this time. But then a slow song came on, and Lily found James' hands on her waist.

"Wouldn't you rather sit down instead of dancing to this slow song?" Lily asked, feeling awkward. But James merely smiled, taking her arms and placing them around his own neck, which was a tiny bit of a stretch for Lily with her short stature. Lily saw Remus and Sirius smiling and making faces at their friend from the side of the room, but James ignored them, tightening his hold on Lily. The two moved in small circles, Lily feeling her eyes begin to edge downward as the slow song and movements began to dull her into sleep, mixing with the alcohol running through her system. She felt like the song went on forever, but for some reason she didn't really mind. Instead she found herself wishing it would never end.

But it soon did and James walked over to the side of the room with his friends, slowly pulling along Lily behind him.

"You're such a charmer mate - you put her to sleep," Sirius pointed out with a smirk.

Remus, concern and laughter fighting each other on his face. "Maybe you should take her back to the common room." A smirk won out and he let James remember that the common room would probably be empty at this time, the perfect time for James to have some alone time with Lily.

James nodded, thanking his friends silently before turning to Lily. "What do you say, Evans? Wanna head back to the room? You look pretty tired..."

Lily looked for Ivy. Watching her gaze, James looked over all the heads and spotted Ivy talking to the Muggle Studies professor. "She'll be fine - Remus and Sirius can go back with her."

Lily nodded and headed to the door, grabbing another glass on her way out. James smirked and followed, waving to his friends as he left.

The two headed back towards the common room, this time going the normal way instead of the tunnel, James figuring Lily was too tired to be stuck in a cold tunnel for a while. Luckily there wasn't a greasy Slytherin walking around - they didn't run into anyone at all, which lifted James' mood even higher.

Lily got slower and slower as her eyes became heavier and heavier. When they turned a corner, James noticed that Lily was about ten feet behind him and he backpedaled to her, putting his arm around her shoulders and helping her along. "Wow, Evans, you sure are tired. Is it passed your bedtime?"

"Ha ha," Lily said without any emotion, the tiredness evident in her voice. James chuckled at her reaction and continued walking, making sure his pacing was slower and smaller than normal.

They soon came to the common room, stepping over to the staircases. James let go of Lily and she immediately began to fall sideways, too tired to stand up straight.

"Whoa there," James said, grabbing her arms and holding her upright again. He laughed at the expression on Lily's face, suddenly swinging her up into his arms like a damsel in distress.

"Hey!" Lily exclaimed, unprepared for the ground to disappear underneath her feet. She looked down and felt slightly dizzy, even though she wasn't that high up. "What are you doing?"

"If I let you go upstairs by yourself you'll end up falling back down the stairs."

"But how am I going to get up to my room? Are you finally going to show me how you sneak up there?"

James thought for a moment before answering. "Nope, I'd rather keep that a secret a while longer. Nah, I'll bring you up to my room instead!"

"What? I can't go up to the boys' dormitory! My friends will kill me in the morning!"

"Not my problem," James said with a chuckle as he began walking up the stairs, easily holding Lily in his arms. He headed up the same distance as Lily's own dormitory, in another section of the Gryffindor tower. He nudged the door open easily and headed to the middle bed, the same bed Lily slept in back in her own room, about twenty feet away, separated by a thick wall. Lily caught sight of a bunch of paper plastered behind most of the beds and she laughed. "Sirius wasn't lying when he said that you kept everything I've written on!"

James looked bashful but didn't blush - lucky non-blush genes, Lily thought to herself. He headed to his bed, lowering Lily down on it gently. "Shut up, Evans. Just get to sleep."

Lily patted the spot next to her, smiling up at James, not completely aware of what she was doing - maybe that second glass wasn't the best idea. "Come on, Potter, keep me company. Give me a little tour of your lovely room."

James' eyebrow arched above his eye. "Are you sure?"

"Of course! I'd love to see where the famous Potter lives when he isn't by my side."

James looked at the glass, which was still clutched in her hand. "I think that's enough champagne for you. Maybe you should refrain from drinking alcohol for a while. Maybe the rest of your life?"

Lily laughed. "That's actually funny! Normally I think everything you say is laced with cockiness and just a pick up line to finally get to me, but you're actually funny!"

"Um, okay, Evans."

Lily continued to laugh. "Hilarious!"

"I think it's time for someone to go to sleep..."

"Will you tell me a bedtime story first?"

"What?"

"My mom used to read a bedtime story every night to my sister and me - but then Petunia started hating me and I went to Hogwarts and I never really see them anymore. I miss those bedtime stories. I wonder if Petunia does..." Lily trailed off, thinking about old memories of her sister, back when their relationship was still normal.

James felt sad, wondering what Lily's life was like when she was trapped in a Muggle world knowing she was different and being hated by her sister. "Fine, I'll tell you a story, but don't get mad if it's really stupid."

"I won't!" Lily looked excited, clapping her hands together.

_She is really drunk_, James thought to himself. _Hope she doesn't remember this in the morning and hate me... Oh well, too late now_. He plopped down next to Lily, smiling widely as he tried to think of a story to tell Lily. Then he thought of a perfect story to tell her while she might not remember.

"Well, there was once a handsome prince who lived in a magical world where everyone loved him. He had plenty of servants to order around and he got to pull pranks on the village idiot all the time, always laughing at his greasy hair and his obsession with Dark Arts and potions. But the prince was still lonely, starting to get bored of spending all his time with his friends, who were incredibly immature in comparison with his own immaculate personality. So, when he found out that there was a beautiful princess who was coming to town, he immediately became friends with her, knowing that she was the perfect ying to his yang. They became good friends, although the girl could be very stubborn at times. Soon they fell in love and married, moving to the castle where they ruled wisely. They soon had a perfect little family, and they all lived happily ever after."

Lily blinked. "That was weak, Potter. Couldn't think of anything more original?"

"I figured that was the best story in this situation."

"So, let me guess, the prince is you and the princess is me?"

"Even when drunk you're so smart, Evans."

"Thanks, Potter, I needed that."

James looked down at Lily with a question on his face, but instead he saw that she was leaning against his shoulder, her eyes closed and her breathing easy as she fell asleep quickly. James smiled and decided to save it for another day. He knew that she would already be mad at him when she woke up - he could deal with her own problems later on.

* * *

**Sorry that this chapter isn't much action - it's more of a transition chapter with some romance, although there is a little bit of foreshadowing (bet you can't guess it - it's _really_ minor, a small detail, but if you have a guess tell me!). There'll be a little more action next chapter hopefully... But in the meantime, please review!**


	6. Not So Lucky

**I'm really sorry that I disappeared for nearly three months. I'd like to say that I was writing the whole time, but most of it was spent on school or working on my NaNoWriMo story (I managed to write 50,000 words about two days before November ended, so I'm excited). But I did try my best to make this chapter longer than normal, so hopefully that'll help. Hopefully you all like it, and hopefully I got all the mistakes when I checked it over late last night (what better way to spend Christmas than working on a Fanfiction, huh?) Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed before I disappeared, and I hope you all like this belated Christmas gift.**

_**Disclaimer: **_**I managed to see the seventh movie twice last month but that's the closest I'll get to owning Harry Potter. That, and the fact that I own all the books and the movies so far.**

* * *

Chapter Six: Not So Lucky

As Lily slowly began to wake up, she felt like her head was going to explode and her mouth was so dry it was like she was stuck in the middle of the desert instead of England. She didn't want to open her eyes because she knew that meant she would see what time it was or Ivy waiting impatiently at the door, reminders that she had to get up and go to class before she could come back to her room and relax. She rolled over, scrunching her eyes closed even more.

"Yo, Evans, you do realize that we have about twenty minutes until our first class, don't you?"

_Why is James in my room?_ Lily wondered, keeping her eyes shut.

"What did you do to her last night, Prongs? It looks like she won't wake up for a few days."

_Wait, how did _Remus_ get into my room?_ Lily's eyes sprang open quickly, looking at her surroundings. She was lying on a bed just like her own, but she was in a different dormitory, one less clean and fresh than her own.

"Where am I?" Lily asked, pushing herself up and attempting to rub the sleep out of her eyes and wake up a little more so she could remember what had happened the night before.

Remus and James were sitting next to each other on the bed across from her, trying to keep her calm but failing.

"You're in our room. Don't you remember anything from last night?" James asked.

"What are you talking about? All I remember is the party and then... um, I don't remember anything else." Lily's nose wrinkled up as she tried to remember if there was anything else in her memory that was just hiding from her until she pushed hard enough. If only she could remember! She didn't want to rely on James to help her piece together her memory - he would probably lie to make things sound worse than they were or just to make himself look good.

"Well, you were really tired so I told James he should take your back to the common room and when Sirius and I showed up later you were asleep in James' bed and he was lying on Peter's bed. Not sure where Peter went, come to think of it, but he disappears like that sometimes, not sure where he goes..." Remus broke up, contemplating where his fourth friend could be.

Lily turned to James. "And how did I get to your dormitory in your bed?"

James looked nervous, looking everywhere except at her face and Remus'. "Well, you were _really_ tired and I figured if you tried to walk up to your own room you would fall right back down the stairs so I picked you up and brought you to my room, since I _technically_ can't go into your room."

"And that was all that happened?" Lily asked, disbelieving.

"Well, not exactly, but I think I'll let you remember yourself," James said with a mischievous smile.

Lily glared at him but then grasped her head, groaning in pain. James got up and came over to her, placing his large palm over her forehead, enveloping it completely. "Got a killer hangover, huh?"

"How much did I drink last night?"

"About a glass and a half of champagne."

"I never want to know what it'd be like if I had _more_ to drink," Lily groaned again. James chuckled and got out his wand.

"Come on, look at me for a second," he gently urged. Lily looked up, her eyes partial slits.

James muttered a spell under his breath, aiming his wand at her. Lily felt her headache begin to subside - it was still there, but it was weak and Lily felt as if she was quickly getting better and the pain would be gone in less than an hour.

Lily stared into James' eyes, a weak smile on her face. "Thanks for that."

James smiled in return and placed his wand back in his pocket.

"Did Super Potter save the day again?"

Lily groaned again, this time from frustration rather than pain as she looked to the door, where Sirius was standing, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he leaned against the doorframe, a smirk on his face.

"I thought you went to look for Wormtail, Padfoot," James said, not even bothering to look at his friend as he continued looking at Lily, apologizing for his behavior silently.

"Oh, I found Wormtail all right."

"Where was he?" Remus asked, trying to change the conversation to an easy one that wouldn't annoy Lily even further.

"Oh, he was curled up on the floor in the corner of the common room. Wormtail sure loves curling up in small places, doesn't he, Prongs?" Sirius had a strange smile on his face, and Lily gave him a questioning glance while James and Remus glared at him.

"So, did you have a good night's sleep, Evans? Potter's bed is _very_ comfy, isn't it?"

"And this is why we got rid of Padfoot," James muttered under his breath.

"Why don't we head off to class?" Remus interrupted quickly in another attempt to stop any arguments.

"Sounds good," Lily said as she got up slowly, determined not to fall over as dizziness clouded her mind slightly.

"Don't we have time to get some food first," Sirius whined.

"We're already strapped for time as is, sorry Padfoot," Remus said as he grabbed his bag off of the ground next to his bed.

"Wait, I need to change first," Lily said, indicating to her mussed outfit from the previous night.

Sirius groaned as he banged his head against the doorframe. "This is why the Marauders has a strict 'no-girls' rule."

"You just made that rule up with one of your girlfriends wanted to hang out with us and you didn't want her to be too clingy," James pointed out wearily as he yawned slightly. Sirius merely frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, pouting quietly.

"Fine, you can stop by your room quickly, Evans."

Lily changed as quickly as possible before catching up to the three boys, all heading to their NEWT Potions class together. Peter had been the only Marauder not to make the class, something that might have surprised some people, but not Lily. The rest of the Marauders might get on her nerves but she knew that they were really smart when they actually tried. Sirius only used his smarts when he was trying to pick up girls, James used it to seem cocky, and Remus was just smart in general.

"So what happened last night?" Lily tried again as they speed-walked to the dungeons, aware that there was only about five minutes to get there.

"Yeah, Prongs, I'd love to hear what happened," Sirius said with a smirk on his face. "Please enlighten us - I've been wondering that since Remus and I showed up in our dormitory last night and founds little Miss Evans here in your bed sleeping."

"I told you, Evans - I thought you were too tired to walk all the way up to your dormitory yourself so I brought you up to my room. And you fell asleep fairly quickly."

"Fairly quickly? And what exactly happened before I fell asleep?" Lily asked, though she was aware how Sirius was hanging onto every word.

"I'll tell you later," James muttered, glancing at Sirius. "I can tell you when we go on our library date tonight."

"What?" Remus asked in disbelief. "You got Lily to go on a date with you?"

"Okay, that's something I actually remember, and it wasn't a date - I told you I'd be willing to go to the library with you to research that secret room you found. I never used the word date to describe it."

"Fine," James grumbled, muttering something under his breath that sounded like a curse followed by, "figures that's one of the things she remembers."

Lily rolled her eyes and pushed James to the side, knocking him into Sirius while she and Remus walked ahead, leaving the two boys behind them in a bit of a shoving match.

"So, you don't know anything about last night?" Lily asked, slight hope in her voice.

Remus shrugged. "I suggested to James that he take you back to the common room - I never said anything about taking you up to our dormitory. But I wouldn't worry about it too much - if he had done something bad he probably would be walking around with a bigger air of cockiness, not to mention telling us while you slept. He didn't mention anything, so I figure it wasn't a big deal."

"Thanks. Did you get Ivy back to our room okay?"

Remus rolled his eyes at that. "I think _she_ had too much to drink, too - she spent the entire time flirting with Sirius and pretending to be tipsier than she really was so that Sirius had to keep 'helping her.' That wasn't a very fun walk home."

"Sorry about that - I guess we should both keep from drinking ever again. And now we'll have to deal with Sirius being even fuller of himself for the next few days, and I'll be stuck listening to Ivy go on and on about it for the next few weeks. Maybe I should spend more time away from her for that time..."

"And you'll spend that alone time with James, I suppose?" Remus said with a knowing look.

"Hey, if I'm willing to give those two a trial period of being my friends, maybe it'll be worth it. But they're just friends," Lily said, returning the knowing look.

"OK, but if I have to put up with being the third wheel with you and James like I did last night, I might have to hex you."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lily said, laughing, as she and Remus entered the Potions room a little earlier than James and Sirius, who were still having a fake fight amongst themselves.

Ivy wasn't in NEWT Potions, so Lily normally sat with Remus, sitting in front of James and Sirius. Some days it was entertaining, but some days it could be pretty annoying.

Lily put her bag on the table in front of her, getting her books out as she sat down. Remus sat down next to her and pulled out his own books and quill.

"So, Evans, will you be spending another night in our dormitory?" Sirius asked loudly behind them. Lily whirled around to bite his head off when she saw why he had asked: Severus was walking by their two tables and his face immediately soured when he heard what Sirius had said. Lily tried to shoot him an apologetic look but then she remembered that she was no longer friends with him. Instead she waved her wand at Sirius, an ink bottle in front of him exploding and coating him in black ink.

"Oy, Evans, next time try to aim that a little better," James chuckled as he cleaned off the small spot on his hand with his wand, managing to miss Sirius' expectant look as he pocketed his wand once again.

"Thanks a lot mate," Sirius grumbled as he got out his own wand and tried cleaning it up himself, although he had a little trouble since his hands were slippery.

Lily shot him a smug look and merely turned around, smirking when she heard Sirius mutter, "I wish she still wore her hair in braids like she did in our first year - then I could pull it to get back at her."

Slughorn walked in before Lily could think of a comeback, and class began. Lily took plenty of detailed notes in the first twenty or so minutes of class, but it was all on autopilot - she wasn't really listening, wasn't really aware of what she was writing down. Instead she was thinking about the latest attack on Muggles in London, something she had heard people whispering about for the past couple of days. Apparently a young woman in her early twenties had disappeared about a month ago and her body had just been found. The Muggle authorities couldn't figure out what had happened to her - it wasn't obvious that she had been tortured or anything and she didn't seem to have any medical problems, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her except that she was dead. But the Ministry of Magic knew what had happened - she had been killed with the dreaded Killing Curse, probably after being tortured with the Cruciatus Curse. The only thing they couldn't figure out was why - they didn't know if the attackers had ulterior motives or if it was just a game for them. That was what worried Lily the most.

When everyone started to stand up and gather in groups, Lily looked up in confusion at Remus.

"What's going on?"

"I thought it looked like someone wasn't home," Remus chuckled quietly. "We're getting together in groups of four to work on making some Lucky Potion."

"Groups of four?" Lily asked weakly as she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and a hand pat her on the head, two signs that the final two of their group had been decided without her.

"Well, Evans, it's certainly your lucky day!" James said, squeezing her shoulder.

"You don't need the Lucky Potion when you have us," Sirius said as he continued to pat Lily on the head, careful not to hit her too hard so that he didn't have to dodge her wand again.

"I may not need it but we still have to make it," Lily sighed as she slowly flipped through her Potions book, looking for the section about Felix Felicis. The pages suddenly flipped by themselves, settling on the correct page with a recipe for the potion. Lily glared at James, who stuck his hands in his pockets as he whistled and stared off into the distance, rocking back and forth and trying to look innocent but failing miserably.

Remus quickly began gathering all the ingredients, trying to keep Lily from getting more annoyed. Lily joined in helping and soon all four were working away, cutting up different objects and mixing them in the large black cauldron positioned in the center. Lily's bright red hair had been pulled back to keep from getting in her way, plus their workspace seemed to be getting hotter as a fire simmered underneath the cauldron.

Soon, though, Slughorn was getting up in front of the class and clapping his hands to get their attention.

"Class, time's up! Step away from your cauldrons and I'll check on your progress."

Lily and the boys stepped aside, waiting as Slughorn wound his way through the five other groups.

When he came to their group, there was a great big smile across his chubby face. "Perfect, as always. You certainly did the best. I'm sure you had something to do with that, Ms. Evans," Slughorn said with a wink in her direction. Lily gave him small, uncomfortable smile as James elbowed her.

"And for your reward, you four all get a small bottle of your own finished Felix Felicis," Slughorn said as he pulled four tiny bottles out of his pocket and passed them out to the group. "Remember, you can't use them for school events. Including Quidditch, boys," he said with a look at James and Sirius, who gave him their best 'who, me?' looks.

Slughorn walked away, leaving the group behind to clean up their desks before class was over.

"Figures he praises you and ignores us," Sirius said bitterly as he leaned against the table, conveniently leaving the clean-up for the others. "I did work, too!"

Lily scoffed. "Oh yeah, your contribution of turning on the fire was very helpful, we couldn't have done anything without you here."

"Hey, the fire's important!"

"It took you about five seconds to light it. You spent the rest of the time criticizing us."

"That's work, too - how else are we going to win if you guys don't know that we're doing something wrong?"

"Telling me that I'm slicing with the wrong-colored knife isn't very helpful, Padfoot," James pointed out as he used his book to hit Sirius in the back of his head. "Now help us clean up before I get Evans to teach me a new hex to use on you when you're sleeping."

"That's sounds like a great idea," Lily said sweetly as she flicked away the mess on her desk with her wand.

"You wouldn't do that to me, would you, Evans?" Sirius said as he reached down and mussed up her ponytail, earning a small kick to his shin which he pretended caused a lot more pain than it really did.

"No, but I'm sure Potter wouldn't hesitate to hex you," Lily pointed out as she redid her hair.

Sirius considered it and probably decided that it was true because he began cleaning the cauldron.

They finished cleaning as soon as class ended, and Remus and Lily left Sirius and James, who had a free block, to head to their NEWT class of Muggle Studies, something that the Marauders liked to tease Remus about for taking.

The rest of the day went by quickly as Lily's small pile of homework once again grew higher. She sighed as she knew that her weekend would once again be full of spending time trying to do her homework.

"So, Evans, are you ready to head to the library?" James asked Lily hopefully as she sat down across from him in the Great Hall.

"I just got here, and I'm hungry. You'll just have to wait," Lily said as she reached across Ivy for the plate of turkey.

"Why are you going to the library?" Ivy asked as she massaged her temples, still feeling the effects of the previous night.

"I told James I'd do some research with him last night."

"Oh, was that before or after you spent the night sleeping over?" Ivy said wryly.

"Ha ha. I already told you at lunch - nothing happened, I didn't even want to go up there. And at least I wasn't throwing myself at a certain Marauder..." Lily trailed off, using her current trump card.

"Stop it! I told you that I was drunk - I don't even remember anything. I've managed to get away with not facing Black so far and hopefully it'll stay that way."

"Won't last much longer," James said as he watched his friend walk down the aisle between the tables, heading in their direction.

Ivy groaned and immediately stood up, placing her hand on her forehead once again as she waited a few seconds for her sight to return to normal. "I'm outta here," she said quickly as she walked away, her head down.

Lily smirked and shook her head as she began eating her food, making sure to eat slowly to annoy James.

Sirius plopped down next to James, immediately grabbing everything in his range. "Was that the lovely Ms. Parks that I caught a glimpse of?" he asked with a glimmer in his eyes as he stuffed his face. "Too bad she didn't wait around for me - I'd love to get a chance to talk to her when she's not full of alcohol."

Lily rolled her eyes. "She's avoiding you because she knows you're going to make fun of her."

"Who says I'm going to do that?" Sirius asked innocently.

"You've made it your mission to tease both her and me for the past six years - I really doubt you're going to stop once you have some new ammunition to use against her."

"Don't you hate it when she uses logic against you," Sirius asked as he turned toward James, who just shrugged.

"Personally I like smart Evans - she tends to come up with wittier comebacks when she's being smart."

"Well, since you're the only one who gets turned on when you're in an argument with her, I don't think your opinion really counts."

James blushed slightly while Lily laughed.

"Just shut up and eat your food, Evans," James said bitterly as he roughly elbowed his friend.

"I don't think I've ever seen you in such a hurry to get to the library, Prongs," Remus said as he sat down next to Lily, Peter following behind him.

"Oh, I don't think it's the books he's excited about," Sirius said with a wink in Lily's direction. Lily rolled her eyes and purposely ate even slower while James groaned.

After another ten minutes of the Marauders making fun of James, Lily was finally done eating. She tried to slip away before James noticed her but he had too keen an eye and he quickly caught up, a spring in his step as he walked next to her.

"You thought you'd get away, huh, Evans?"

"I hoped."

"What, you don't want to spend some time with me in the library?"

"Well, I'd much rather be doing some homework since I got loads today, but you might have something to do with it." Lily said with a smirk.

"Hey!" James said as he pretended to be hurt. "Why don't we have another homework date this weekend?"

Lily scoffed. "One, the last time wasn't a date, and two, all of the homework I currently have is due before the weekend."

"Well, we could always do some while we're in the library. After all, it is a library - aren't you supposed to do homework there?"

"How would you know - you never go there unless it's to annoy me while _I'm_ trying to do homework."

"True, but I've seen you doing homework in there loads of time so I know that that must be one of the purposes of a library."

"Good deducing, Sherlock."

They spent the rest of the walk arguing about homework, until Lily relented and agreed to allow James to help her with her homework after they were done. Lily found herself happier as she got closer to the library, ready to do some research, even if it weren't for school. Maybe it was a bit nerdy - okay, definitely nerdy - but she loved surrounding herself with books and trying to figure things out.

When they walked into the library, they headed to a back table, the only students currently in the library since everyone else was in the Great Hall feasting on the food rather than stuffing themselves with new knowledge.

"So, what was this magical room of yours like?" Lily asked as she sat down across from James, putting her bag on the chair next to her.

James thought for a moment. "Well, it seemed to be a storage of some kind, like I said."

Lily nodded as she got up once again to head for the bookshelves, looking for the section about Hogwarts. She found the book she was looking for, _Hogwarts, A History_, and went up on her toes to reach it. The shelve was just about an inch or so out of her reach, though.

"Need some help, Evans?" James asked with a smile evident in his voice as he came up behind her quietly, standing right behind her.

Lily rolled her eyes before sighing and answering. "Yes, I need some help."

"What's the magic word, Evans?"

"I know plenty of different magic words I would love to use on you, but some of them are illegal," Lily said through gritted teeth.

James snorted. "Well, I guess that works." Then he reached up for the book, leaning over Lily's head. He held the book before her, his arm brushing against her own.

Lily grabbed the book and hurried back to her seat, glaring at James.

"What? I got you the book - you should be thanking me!"

"Why thank you, Potter, for making a bigger deal out of it."

"Well, at least you said thank you," James trailed off. "So, what's the book for?"

Lily ignored him as she flipped through the book, searching for something that could work. Then she saw it.

She read the words before glancing back up at James. "Where did you say you saw this room?"

"Um, I thought it was on the seventh floor by that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy but like I said, when I went back it wasn't there so I must have been wro-"

"You weren't wrong," Lily interrupted, turning the book around so he could read it.

"'The Room of Requirement?' You think that's what I found?"

"It sounds like it - it's a room that you can only find when you're in great need of it. You needed a place to hide - I'm not going to ask why - and you happened to pass it so you got it to appear, but when you came back you didn't really need it. So, if we were to go back to it, we might be able to find it, as long we go back and forth three times in front of it. At least, I think that's what the book said." Lily leaned forward to double-check, the same time as James leaned forward to point out the section.

"Ow," Lily cried as she sat back in her seat, cradling her head. "Your head is like concrete."

"Shoot, I'm sorry," James said as he came over to her side, moving her hand aside to examine her forehead.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Lily exclaimed as he gently pressed on the tender spot where their heads had collided.

"Hmm, it might bruise a little, but I think it's not too bad." James said. "You'll survive, Ms. Evans."

"Thank you, Dr. Potter," Lily said wryly.

"You're welcome. And since I'm such a perfect gentleman, I won't charge you for my docterly advice. Now come on, why don't we check out that room? What was it called?"

"The Room of Requirement. And we can't go now - I have tons of homework."

"We'll worry about that later. We can pull an all-nighter or something. But I want to check it out now."

"Fine, but if I fall asleep in class tomorrow I will hex your arse until your own mum won't recognize you."

"Fair enough. Now come on," James said as he grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her along. She barely had time to grab her bag before she was pulled out of the library and into the hall.

Soon enough they found themselves on the seventh floor. Lily leaned against the wall beside the tapestry while James paced in front of the opposite wall three times, muttering under his breath. After the third time, he stopped and watched the wall, Lily coming up beside him.

After a few seconds, a door suddenly appeared out of nowhere. James looked down at Lily and shrugged. "What do we do now?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "We open it, Potter."

She reached for the doorknob as James pointed out that, "Curiosity killed the cat."

"Well I'm not a cat and I have my wand ready so I think we'll be fine. And shouldn't you be the one who's willing to take risks?"

"Yeah, that would be what would normally happen, huh? But that's risking my neck, not yours."

"I'm touched. Fine, then you open the door."

"With pleasure," James said as he opened the door, his own wand held out in front of him as he stepped forward.

"So, is this it?"

"Yep, down to that pot of dead flowers right next to the door," James said as he stepped into the room, pulling Lily in after him.

"Yay, we found it, now can we go back to the common room?"

"Where's your sense of adventure now, Evans?"

"It tends to disappear when I have a mound of homework to do."

"Again with the homework - is that all you think about?"

"Of course not."

"What else do you think about, then?"

"What?"

James grinned as he turned around and looked down at Lily. "Come on, no one else is here - you can tell me, I won't let it out of this room."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, a sickle for your thoughts."

"Is that all my thoughts are worth?"

"Well, since that's all I have right now, yes."

"Well you can forget it - I'm not telling you anything."

"Come on, I'm not going to make fun of you! You secretly fantasize about me, don't you?"

"You wish."

"I do," James said with a cheeky grin on his face.

"I won't tell you anything if you don't tell me first."

"Hmm, quid pro quo, eh? Well, my thoughts tend to revolve around the Marauders, Quidditch -"

"Typical"

"- and you."

Lily's eyebrow rose. "And that's something new?"

"Hey, I didn't say you didn't already know about what I think about. Now your turn."

"I'm not telling you anything."

"Hey, fair's fair! I told you now you tell me."

"What exactly do you want to know? I'm not about to tell you any deep dark secrets."

"Fine," James paused for a few seconds, thinking. "Explain what you meant last night."

"What are you talking about?"

"Last night, right before you fell asleep, you mentioned your sister. Tell me about her."

"Why?"

"Because you never mention her, and I'm curious. Come on, what's the worst that could happen?"

"You tell the Marauders everything I said and I'm stuck listening to Sirius and Peter mentioning my sister about every five minutes."

"But I swore that I wouldn't tell."

"And why should I believe you?"

"Fine. I'll tell you how I get up to the girls' dormitory if you tell me. And if I tell anyone else, you can tell my secret to McGonagall and then you can _both _punish me."

"Hmm..." Lily pretended to remain unsure, causing James to groan. "Fine, I'll tell you."

She sat down in the couch near them, folding her legs against her chest with her arms encircling them. James sat down on the cushion next to her, his own long legs stretched out before him.

"Well, Petunia is two years older than me. She's not magical at all, but it wasn't that big of a problem when we were little since I didn't really know about my own magic. That was, until we met Severus."

A look of anger crossed James' face but Lily ignored it, wanting to get everything out before she chickened out.

"I guess I was about nine or so when we met him. He lived near us, and Petunia wanted nothing to do with him."

James seemed to perk up at that.

"But he told me about magic, and we became friends. Petunia hated that, and she became slightly distant. Then my letter came, and that nearly ruined things. Petunia felt left out, and she secretly wrote to Dumbledore, asking to be admitted to Hogwarts. Of course, he wrote her back telling her that was impossible since she wasn't a witch, but that destroyed any love Petunia still had for me. She hated me after that. Every summer, I try to change her opinion and make her my friend again but she refuses to even listen to me. Summers means two months of the silent treatment or snippy comments. At this point, I don't think there's any chance that we're ever going to repair our relationship." Lily sighed, unable to continue.

James reached out for her hand, giving it a squeeze. "Don't worry; I'm sure things will work out someday. She can't hate you forever - you're sisters, family."

"Thanks, but that doesn't mean anything to her. Besides, look at Sirius and his brother - they've never really been friends, and I really doubt they ever will be."

James remained silent and Lily nodded before getting up, stretching her legs before heading back to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I promised you a story about my sister and that's what you got. But now we should head back to the common room."

"Wait up," James said as he too got up and joined her at the door.

The two stepped out into the hall, looking both ways to see if anyone else was around. Then they headed back to the Gryffindor common room, both silent.

The Gryffindor Tower was also on the seventh floor, but it was a long walk, one around many corridors winding through the school. Just as they were turning around one of the last corners, Lily stopped in her tracks. James looked down at her and then followed her gaze towards the opposite wall:

Another message, yet again written in what appeared to be blood, was smeared across the brick, this time spelling out the words, 'Not even these walls can protect the Mudbloods from Justice.'

* * *

**I hope you like this chapter and it was mostly worth the wait. I'll try to have the next chapter up much sooner than this was, but reviews always help! Enjoy the holidays, and enjoy the last of 2010!**


	7. Dark Hallways

**Happy New Year! I managed to update two weeks in a row, something I haven't managed to do in a while. Next week may not work so well, though, since school starts tomorrow, but I will try to have another update soon, and hopefully it'll be long (this one isn't quite as long as the last one but it's still fairly lengthy)! And I'd like to thank Spot123, 98, and Orange-Coyote for reviewing - it's always great to hear some feedback! Anyway, though, on with the story...**

_**Disclaimer: Harry Potter is J.K. Rowling's, otherwise it'd be a lot crazier.**_

* * *

Chapter Seven: Dark Hallways

Lily stared into the crackling fire before her. She was sitting in James' chair, the one he normally sat in when he wasn't off pulling pranks, but she wasn't worried that he was going to get mad at her - he had placed her there himself after they had seen the new message. She had been slightly freaked out, just like the last time, and James had half-led, half-carried her to the common room, while he sent Sirius and Remus to get some teachers. He had tried to talk to Lily but she had been staring at the fireplace ever since, ignoring him.

"I assure you, we will find out who did this, along with a similar incident last week," McGonagall said from her position by the entrance to the common room, her stern face calm but dangerous. She was obviously disturbed that something like this had happened, and Lily had confidence that she would do whatever it took to find out who was responsible. Lily just wasn't sure if that would be quite enough.

"Until we find out who did this, we ask that you all keep an eye out, and we advise no students to wander the halls alone. You don't have anything to worry about, but we want to take these precautions just in case. But besides these, nothing will change - Hogwarts isn't going to crumble because someone is playing such a nasty joke."

There was a bit of whispering among the assembled Gryffindors, and McGonagall sighed, pushing her glasses farther up her thin nose before addressing them again.

"I know that there are plenty of stories in the _Daily Prophet_ about Muggle attacks by a certain group of dark wizards. But I ensure you that you are safe here at Hogwarts. You're surrounded by many accomplished witches and wizards, not to mention the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever known. We will all do everything it takes to make sure that the students of Hogwarts remain safe."

With that, McGonagall swept through the portrait hole, leaving the students to immediately burst into dozens of conversations. There was plenty of excitement and fear coursing its way through the room, but Lily felt completely unaffected by it all. Instead, she continued staring at the dancing flames, as if they held some sort of secret that she desperately wanted to know.

Ivy sat down in Sirius's chair next to her, silently giving her friend her support. James plopped down in front of her, also watching the fire, while the other Marauders sat on the floor beside him. There was silence in their little group, which was quite unusual, although all the whispers around them masked it.

"Are you okay, Lils?" Ivy finally asked after fifteen or so minutes of silence. She was watching her friend, a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Lily let the question roll over in her mind for a few moments before answering. "Not really."

"What's wrong, though? You're safe here, and they're just messages, it's not like they're hurting anyone." Sirius pointed out, earning an elbow in the stomach from Remus and a punch on the shoulder from James. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Sirius, we were out there. James and I were out in those halls all alone. The message wasn't up when you got back from the Great Hall, was it?"

"Well, no, but what does that matter?"

"It means sometime in the time from when you returned to the common room and we did, there was someone writing that message. We could have easily been there at the same time, and maybe then it wouldn't have been such an innocent prank."

"You really think they would hurt you? Why, because you saw them defacing school property?"

"Sirius, you're such an idiot," Ivy muttered under her breath as she hit him in the back of the head with her knee.

"If this person had the courage to write those messages when they could have easily gotten caught, what's to keep them from attacking people who catch them? Especially if one of those people happens to be a filthy Mudblood."

Understanding came across Sirius's face as he took in the sight of Lily, remembering her own heritage and upbringing.

The group fell back into silence while Lily's head was spinning, trying to figure out who could be doing such a cruel prank. Then a question popped into her head.

"Wait, what about the portraits?"

Everyone turned to look at her, confusion evident on their many faces.

"What do you mean, Lily?" Remus asked, sitting up straighter as he watched her.

"That corridor wasn't empty - there have to be portraits there, right?"

"Sure, I think there's a couple. But what difference does that make?" Ivy asked, not understanding Lily.

"You think the portraits saw something, don't you?" James said as he figured out what Lily had already noticed.

"Exactly - there had to be someone who saw something, right? There's no way they were all empty at the same time."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Why don't we check it out now?" Sirius said as he got up to his feet. But Remus shook his head.

"It won't be nearly that simple. The whole corridor is probably blocked off, or at least being watched by a teacher or two. Plus, it's almost curfew so there will be plenty of prefects and teachers roaming the halls anyway."

"We don't have to worry about being seen though, do we?" Sirius pointed out.

"We don't?" Ivy asked as both Remus and James groaned and glared at Sirius.

"Why don't we?" Lily asked, suspicion lacing her voice.

"Well, we are wizards and witches, aren't we?" Sirius said, obviously trying to hide something.

"Sure, but none of us know enough magic to become invisible," Ivy pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared Sirius down.

"Or do you have another way?" Lily said as she mirrored the expression, turning her hard stare to James and Remus before returning to Sirius.

Peter, who had been silent the entire time, looked even more nervous, and Lily turned her sights on him, knowing he would be the first to crack.

"Do you know, Peter?" Lily asked, trying to sound calming but knowing that her anxiety was mixing into her voice.

The other boys groaned, knowing Peter would probably give them up. Peter looked around at his friends worriedly, silently asking for help.

James finally sighed. "Fine, come on, Evans, I'll show you."

"Show me what?"

"Come up to our dormitory - this isn't something I want everyone else to see."

"Wait, what about me?" Ivy asked, glaring at James as she stood up. "There's no way you're showing just Lily."

"Fine, let's let everyone know!" Sirius said as he flung his arms up in the air. "Might as well let the whole common room know."

Remus elbowed him, shooting him a glance to quiet him. Sirius glared at him but remained silent.

"Fine," James said again, grabbing Lily's arm and pulling her up from the seat. "But try to be slightly sneaky - we don't want everyone seeing us. Padfoot and I will go with Lily first and then you can come up with Moony and Wormtail."

Ivy looked annoyed that she had to wait but she didn't say anything.

Lily, sandwiched between James and Sirius, hurried up to the dormitory that she had woken up in that morning, although this time she was going up by her own free will.

Once they got up, Lily wasn't sure where to sit. She looked around the room, finally getting a good look at it, without being drunk or in a hurry. The room looked just like her own, only scattered with the boys' things rather than the things found in Lily's own room. But there weren't any chairs, just four beds. Sirius had immediately made himself comfortable on his own bed, and James was sitting down on his own. He saw Lily's indecision on her face and, smirking, he patted the spot next to him. Deciding standing around would be annoying after a while, Lily sat down next to him, although she made sure there was space in between them.

The other three arrived about five minutes later. Ivy sat down on the floor, by Lily's feet, while Remus sat on Lily's other side and Peter squished himself onto Sirius' bed, obviously eager to make sure he was included.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Ivy asked after a while.

James sighed and got up, heading to his trunk at the end of his bed. He opened it out and pulled out a strange-looking cloak.

"What's that?" Lily asked, unsure why he was showing them a simple cloak. But when James put it around his shoulders, she realized why.

"Bloody hell!" Ivy said as she stood up, her eyes searching for James' body, which had now disappeared. "You have an invisibility cloak!"

"Yeah, and we had that secret nice and safe before now," James said as he glared at Sirius, who merely shrugged it off.

"Where'd you get it? Aren't they really rare?" Lily asked as her mind scrambled to remember the little she knew about invisibility cloaks, having not grown up knowing about them.

"Got it from my dad - it's a family heirloom or something. Someday I'll give it to my own kid," James said proudly, pulling it off as his body appeared once again.

"Now that's a scary thought - a mini-James running around," Ivy said with a snort.

"Hey, remember there'll probably be a mix of Lily in the kid, too - even scarier!" Sirius said with a devilish gleam in his eyes as he shot a smirk in Lily's direction.

"Like I'd have a kid with James - _that's_ a scary thought," Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hey!" James said as he sat back down next to her, shaking the bed and bringing Lily unwillingly closer to him. "It could happen."

Lily rolled her eyes and scooted back towards Remus.

"So, Lily and James' kids aside, what are we going to do about the portraits?" Ivy asked, bringing the group's attention back to their original conversation from the common room.

"Well, we can sneak out right now, can't we?"

"There's no way all of us can fit under the cloak, though. At best we're able to fit three of us when we're bent over - there's no way we'd all be covered. We'll have to choose two, maybe three people to go," Remus pointed out.

"Well, Lily should be one of the people," Ivy said, obviously hoping to worm her way into the group on the coattails of her friend. "And someone has to be there to watch out for her."

"I can take care of myself, Ive."

"She's right, Lily - you can take care of yourself, but this person could be dangerous, plus McGonagall suggested always going places with at least one person, so we should probably follow that advice," James said. He paused for a moment before giving his own opinion. "I should go - I could watch her, plus whoever is doing this might not attack me."

"Fine, that's two people. We might be able to fit another person," Remus said, looking at the remaining three faces.

"No offense, Wormtail, but you'll freak out the second we sneak into the corridor, even if there aren't any people in it," Sirius pointed out. "And Ivy is out - there's no way she could keep her cool."

"What?"

"Ive, he may have a point," Lily suggested gently. "You're my best friend but you tend to crack under pressure. It'd be better if you sat this out."

Ivy glared at her friend but obviously it made sense because she remained silent, sulking.

"That leaves you and me, Moony," Sirius said cheerfully. "Who should go?"

"Remus," Lily said the same time that James chimed in with, "Moony."

"What?" Now it was Sirius' turn to be outraged. "What's wrong with me?"

"While you never lose your cool, Remus would be the better choice. He's sort of smarter than you, mate."

"So I'm stuck babysitting Parks and Wormtail?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"Well, I wouldn't look at it that way..." James trailed off, at a loss to come up with another way of putting it.

"Hey, I can watch myself!" Ivy said, still smarting from being left out.

"Prongs, I am seriously going to hurt you," Sirius muttered to James as he walked to the door. "Now hurry before I steal that cloak from your hands."

James laughed weakly as Lily and Remus came to his side. The shortest, Lily got sandwiched between the two, with the boys leaning down slightly to keep their feet from appearing.

"Well, this is cozy, isn't it, Evans?" James said with a huge grin planted on his face. "It's like being back in that little tunnel."

"Yeah, but this time I can talk to Remus instead, rather than going crazy spending all my time with you."

"That's not nice!" James said as he attempted to slap her lightly on the back but got Remus instead.

"Oops, sorry, mate!"

"Lily, remember what I said about not wanting to be a third wheel...?"

"Very clearly."

"Wait, are you calling me and Evans a couple?"

"Remus, I'm going to hurt you now."

"Oops..."

"Will you lot shut up?" Sirius shouted at them from the open door. "It's even more annoying because I can't see you!"

"Right, we should probably hurry up and check out the corridor."

The three tried walking forward, but they quickly realized that it wasn't as easy as it seemed - for every step the boys took, Lily had to take two, and the boys kept forgetting to lean over. Ivy and Wormtail entertained themselves with throwing small objects at their exposed feet.

"OK, stop," Remus said, bringing the small group to a halt. "We need to walk slower - that way Lily can keep up and we're less likely to stand up too straight."

They started again, managing not to become targets for Ivy and Wormtail this time. Sirius rolled his eyes at them as they walked past, although Lily knew he couldn't be totally sure where they were. Once he heard their footsteps on the stairs, though, he closed the door and followed them down. He let them out of the common room with a glare, pretending he had forgotten something out in the hall before heading back in, leaving them with a parting whisper, "I'll be watching for you guys to come back, so hurry."

As they walked away, Lily wondered how he would know when they were back if they were invisible, but decided it was probably another one of the Marauders' tricks that wasn't worth questioning. Instead, she focused on the task at hand.

The halls of the school were strangely empty, though they should be crawling with prefects and teachers alike. Lily felt almost as if they were the only three people left in the school, their footsteps unbearingly loud though they tried to keep them muffled. With every step she took, she flinched and expected someone to come flying around the corner looking for the intruder in the dark night, but no one came.

They reached the roped-off corridor soon enough. There was merely a physical barrier, though, one that was easily climbed under as the group shed the invisibility cloak. The message was still on the wall but Lily could tell that someone had tried to scrub it off. There must have been at least one spell placed on it to keep from easy removal. Lily walked right up to it, holding her hand out but stopping short of touching it. Though it seemed impossible to clean off, it looked like it was some sort of substance and she really didn't want to touch it, especially since it looked eerily like blood.

Feeling rather than seeing, Lily knew that James and Remus had come to either side of her, also inspecting the message. They remained silent, trying to find some hidden, unknown clues, though their time was limited as is.

After a few moments, Lily sighed and turned around, looking at the three portraits that were on the opposite wall.

The first picture housed a young girl who was sleeping on her side, her also-dozing puppy curled up next to her. The landscape behind her was that of a bright, summer's day, and yet she slept easily.

The middle picture held a middle-aged wizard who was busy reading the stacks of books that surrounded his maroon overstuffed chair.

The last picture, though, was the most interesting. Though there was a glass of milk lying next to a plate of cookies on a table, no one occupied the picture. Lily walked up to it, trying to see around the surroundings but unable to due to the lack of a third dimension. She turned to face the two boys. "Who's normally in this picture?"

James and Remus both shrugged. "I thought it was an elderly woman, but now that I think about it, it may have been a man, but I honestly can't remember for sure."

Lily bit her lip and turned back to the picture, trying to figure out why the person wasn't in their rightful picture. Sure, the people of the pictures had free reign through all of the pictures of Hogwarts, but it seemed like the teachers would want all of the portraits by the accident to be occupied to keep an eye out for anyone who came back to the scene of the crime. In fact, the three of them were taking a great risk by not using the invisibility cloak when there were two people who could easily rat them out, though they were both busy at the moment.

But Lily decided to take a risk, and she turned to the man in the middle, clearing her throat to get his attention.

"Why, what are students doing in this corridor at such a late hour? Didn't you realize that it's not allowed?" The man asked incredulously as he lowered his book and saw them. "You could get into serious trouble for this."

"I'm sorry, sir, but this is important. I was wondering if you were here when the message was written."

"Well, I wasn't actually. Most of us - pictures, I mean - were gathered in the main hall watching an epic Wizard's Chess game between two Ravenclaws. It was great fun, really, but when I returned with the little one over there," he gestured to the sleeping girl, "the message was written. You should know this though - I believe we came back when you and the black-haired boy had just gotten here and discovered the message. Bad luck, really. But why are you back?"

"Well, sir, we had been hoping that we could talk to the pictures and find out if they had seen anything."

He sighed. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help. It was strange, really - someone had placed a piece of parchment about the game earlier today, but it seems to have disappeared. It was where the message is right now, actually. But anyway, if it weren't for that, we wouldn't have gone to the game, we'd have been here instead."

Lily bit her lip again, her mind churning as she registered this new information. Then she looked back up at the man. "But, sir, what about the third picture?"

He looked over at the empty portrait she was pointing at. "Well, that's a young man whose name is Henry, I believe. He didn't want to go to the game with us - I can't remember why - but I haven't seen him since we left. I guess he might have been here when the message was written, but I've really no idea where he went. It's not like him to disappear - he's quite attached to his cookies and milk, you see, and he hates it when other people sneak into his portrait and eat them. I haven't the foggiest where he goes when he leaves since it's so rare."

Lily sighed. A dead end.

"I'm sorry I can't be of more help. I could always tell you when he's back. I could zip on over to the Fat Lady - she sort of fancies me, you see - and tell her."

Lily gave him a smile. "That'd be great. I guess we'll just have to keep an eye out for him ourselves, too. What does he look like?"

"Bit of a strange boy, really. He has brown hair and dark blue eyes. In the dark I swear they're black, but I know that's just my imagination getting the best of me. Sweet boy, really, though he's much too attached to his sweets. I hope you find him - we have some interesting conversations. And don't worry; I won't let anyone know that you three snuck in here, although if you make a habit of it I might have to."

"Don't worry - we'd much rather stay in our common room. And thank you for your help."

The three gathered up the invisibility cloak again, and as they threw it over themselves, Lily took one last glance at the empty portrait. She thought she caught a glimpse of a brown curl peeking into the very corner, but it disappeared quickly, and if it had been the boy, Henry, he was already gone.

The three returned to the common room in silence, thinking rather than worrying about being heard.

As promised, when they reached the portrait hole it swung open to reveal Sirius, who allowed them to pass while he picked up something from the ground, probably an object he had dropped when he had come out previously.

Seeing that the common room had already emptied out, James pulled the invisibility cloak off of their hands. The boys took their respective seats while Lily leaned against the fireplace, having refused James and Remus' offers of their chairs.

"When did Ivy and Wormtail leave?" Lily asked, desperate to break the silence.

"Oh, I merely locked them in our dormitory - I was sick of their bickering. They're probably murdering each other in there right now."

"Comforting," Lily muttered under her breath, but she was partially relieved that she didn't have to deal with Ivy's hundreds of questions, although Sirius was sure to have plenty of his own.

She was right, for Sirius then broke the silence himself with a few questions. Lily was happy to allow the boys to answer them while she mulled over everything in her head, trying to figure things out.

The person who wrote the messages was a very smart person. They had waited until most of the people in the portraits were gathered in the main hall rather than their own portraits, and they had found a way to get rid of the remaining person, who had mysteriously remained missing since. They had also used magic to keep the message from being cleaned easily. Whoever had done it was very clever indeed, but they also seemed fairly dangerous. Lily knew that they couldn't allow this mysterious person to continue their mission of terror - there was a chance that the next thing might not be as harmless as a message written on a wall.

As Lily thought, she realized that the boys had stopped talking, and they seemed to be watching her.

"What?"

"Well, do you have any ideas?" Sirius asked, counting on her to do the hard work.

Lily shook her head, and he groaned, muttering under his breath, "Well, we're screwed."

"We need to talk to that boy, Henry - he has to know something about this."

"So you're suggesting we search every single picture in the castle? That's not exactly how I planned on spending my night, no offense."

"No, I'm just saying we should keep an eye out. And hope that the other picture can help us - maybe Henry will come back on his own and we just need to wait a little while. But, in the meantime, we need to do something about this person."

"And what do you suggest?"

"I have no idea," Lily bit her lip, turning her head down and watching the dying flames of the fire below her.

"Well, whatever we do, you're not going anywhere on your own, Evans," James said. "You should go everywhere with a Marauder."

"What about Ivy?" Lily asked, looking up at James. "Do you think we can't handle anyone without one of you boys?"

"No offense to Ivy, but we know more shortcuts, have more things to help us. You'd be a lot safer with one of us." He paused and then continued, "Well, maybe not with Wormtail, but I'm sure the three of us would be fine."

Lily rolled her eyes and turned back to the fire. She knew that it wouldn't be smart of her to go off on her own, but she didn't want to be reminded. Hogwarts was one of her last safe havens, and she still wasn't safe here, not anymore.

Remus sighed and got up. "Well, it's late, and there isn't anything else we can do right now. We should all head to bed. Oh, and Padfoot, you should probably let Ivy out of our dormitory - I fear for the safety of Wormtail."

They all left with a little smile on their faces, Lily heading to the right staircase while the boys headed to the other. Lily knew she could wait for Ivy, but she wasn't in the mood for more thinking right now - she'd much rather get into her bed and dream, escaping all of the stress of the day. It'd been a very long day; it was hard to remember that just yesterday she was at a party. Perhaps the next day would go better, but with how the year had gone so far, it didn't look like that was going to be possible.

Lily managed to slip under her blanket right before the door opened, a frustrated Ivy rushing into the room. If it weren't for their sleeping roommates and Lily's own apparent sleeping form, Lily knew Ivy would be bombarding her with dozens of questions, but Lily was safe for that night, at least. Ivy stomped around slightly but she was soon also wrapped into her own bed, her breathing becoming calm as she drifted off to sleep.

But Lily couldn't fall asleep. Instead, she was left staring up at the top of her four-poster bed, the colors blending into one as her eyes remained unblinking. There were so many thoughts, half-finished ideas and plans that were flashing through her head, barely holding her attention before another concept began to form. There was so much to think about but Lily couldn't focus, and she felt so tired but unable to fall asleep herself. She desperately wanted to move but at the same time felt too weak. She couldn't wait to fall asleep so that she could stop thinking. Perhaps she would end up dreaming about running around in a field of wildflowers, far away from all the troubles of the wizarding world and the Muggle world around it. Perhaps there would be unicorns to ride, butterflies to chase, and clouds to watch. The sun would be shining on her pale skin, yet it wouldn't burn her - instead, it would cloak her in a warm blanket, like the one around her right now.

Just thinking about that made Lily smile, and soon her eyes were flickering as they closed, and she fell asleep without even realizing it. Her dreams were indeed blissful, not full of all the ugliness of her world when she was awake. She was with Petunia, back when they were friends, back when things were simpler. It wasn't a huge, green field, but it was just as great - she was in the park where she had spent so much time with her sister when they were young. There weren't any students from Hogwarts, not even Severus, who had snuck his way through many of her young memories.

By the time the sunshine on her face woke her up, she felt none of the stress of the previous night. Rather, she awoke with a smile on her face and hope in her heart. Perhaps today really would be better, perhaps things would go well.

That hope pushed her out of bed, floating around her as she got ready and headed downstairs, leaving her friend in her own dreams rather than interrupting them.

When Lily reached the bottom of the stairs, she came to a stop in front of James and Remus, who were both dozing in front of the fireplace.

"I would say you're up early, but you aren't really awake." Lily said with a laugh in her voice as she came in front of the boys.

They both awoke with a jerk, looking up to see her.

"Oh, we were just here in case you tried to sneak out, but I guess we did a bad job of keeping an eye on you, huh?" James said as he ran his hand through his hair, messing his bed head up further.

Lily smirked. "Well, since I'm in such a great mood, I'll allow you two to escort me to breakfast, if you can even keep your eyes open long enough."

The two boys got up with yawns and the three headed out of the common room.

As the portrait of the Fat Lady swung shut, though, they were stopped by a voice behind them.

"Excuse me, Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter and Lupin. I have a message from a friend of mine."

"Yes?" Lily asked as she turned around, hope lifting her spirits further.

"He said you'd understand it: Henry has returned."

* * *

**I hope you liked this chapter - it's partly a filler and a buildup to a bigger plotline I'm trying to introduce, so I'm not sure if it's one of the better chapters, but things will pick up soon, so hang in with me if you thought this chapter was sort of boring! And please review - reviews make me smile and much more willing to write! :D**


	8. Fighting Back

**It's been a while, but not as long as the last break. School got the better of me and I didn't really get the chance to work on this chapter until the latest batch of snow days. This chapter is a bit of a filler, I guess, more about them getting a little break from all the bad stuff going on and having a little fun, but everyone needs that once in a while. I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one!**

_**Disclaimer: If Harry Potter were mine, I'd write more than just on snowdays.**_

* * *

Chapter Eight: Fighting Back

Lily immediately broke out in a sprint, heading in the direction of the corridor. She heard James' and Remus' footsteps behind her, easily catching up to her. The three reached the portraits quickly, pausing a few seconds to catch their breath.

The wizard in the middle portrait had moved to the third frame, crammed in next to a boy of about seventeen, his brown hair messy. He was dunking a cookie in the glass of milk half-heartedly, and when he looked down at the three students beneath him, he sighed solemnly, obviously expecting them.

"Ah, I see my message got to you three fairly quickly," the older man said, giving the boy a pat on the back before returning to his own portrait, giving them a little space.

Lily watched the boy before her. There were bags under his eyes, even though she thought paintings didn't have problems like that. He looked stressed and unhappy, and she could tell that he wasn't in the mood to be talking to them.

"Are you Henry?" She asked kindly, trying to calm him down.

The boy, Henry, nodded glumly and continued drowning his cookie in the milk, the tips of his fingers getting wet. "Richard told me you were looking for me last night." He jerked his head in the direction of the wizard back in his portrait, who was apparently Richard. "Why were you looking for me?"

"We understand you weren't at the chess game yesterday, when the message was written. We were wondering if you were here when it happened. It's really important."

Henry sighed, pulling his cookie out of the milk and letting it fall on his plate with a wet plop. "Let me guess - you're curious if I saw whoever did it."

"Yeah, that's what we were wondering. Did you?" Lily asked nervously, unsure if she wanted to hear the answer when there was such a great chance that it would take away all her hope.

Henry leaned back, watching the three of them with piercing navy blue eyes, lingering on each individually. His gaze returned to Lily's own emerald stare as he opened his mouth to speak. "I saw something, but I'm not sure how much help it'll be."

"Well, what did you see?" James, ever the patient type, asked in a slightly frustrated voice.

"I saw someone in a black cloak and a funny mask. Sort of like a skull, really, but not quite as skeletal. I could tell it was a mask, but I couldn't see anything but the eyes - they were so dark that they almost looked black. He was fairly tall, probably almost as tall as you two, and he was fairly large. Very menacing, really. I hid beneath the table, but I saw him put the message up. He had some sort of concoction in a jar with him; it sort of looked like blood. After he was done writing the message, he put some spells on it, probably to keep people from getting it done, but I don't remember hearing the spells - they must have been nonverbal. After that, he left. I was afraid he saw me, though, so I got out of there fast - someone who would do that wouldn't hesitate to attack a picture, I'm sure. I avoided my portrait until a little while ago. Now I'm wishing I hadn't come back, though," he said, finishing off with the tiredness evident in his deep voice.

"So you never actually saw his face?"

"Nope, not a single peek."

"Well, this was a complete waste," James groaned, turning away to face the message once again, which seemed to gleam in the early-morning light. "We know just as much as we did before."

Lily sighed. "Well, thanks, Henry. If you remember anything else, could you let us know?"

He nodded, his gaze returning to his sad-looking cookie before he tossed it to the floor.

"Well, we might as well head to breakfast, talk to Padfoot and Wormtail. Maybe they'll have some ideas," Remus said as he began walking in the direction of the Great Hall.

James nodded and started following his friend. They didn't notice that Lily was still standing there, watching Henry.

"There's something you're not telling us, isn't there?" She asked, making Henry jump as he realized that she was still there.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Henry said, his eyes looking everywhere but at her face.

Lily's head tilted to the left as she considered the boy sitting in the portrait, the guilt and secrecy so plain on his face. She knew he was hiding something, she just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Lily!"

Lily turned to see that James and Remus had returned after realizing that she wasn't with them.

"What's taking you so long?" James asked, watching her.

Lily gave them a small smile. "Nothing, just thinking." She turned to join them, but not before giving Henry a long stare, one that clearly showed she would find out what he was hiding, sooner or later. He blushed and ducked out of his portrait, disappearing from the quiet corridor. Lily sighed and joined James and Remus.

They entered the Great Hall quietly, matching the noise level among the few students. It was fairly early, and the only people at the Gryffindor table were Sirius and Peter, who both looked tired and unhappy to be awake so early. The trio joined them across the table, Lily seated in between the two boys.

"Fancy meeting you here," James said cheekily, smacking Sirius on the shoulder. Sirius merely glared at him and tried to pierce his egg with his fork but missed in his sleepy haze.

"What are you two doing up so early, anyway?" Remus asked as he reached for some toast.

"Wormtail here woke me up when he noticed you two were gone and made me come down here. Coincidentally, I think I'm going to murder him later."

Peter was too tired to even take Sirius seriously, and instead slumped against his friend, his eyes slipping shut.

Lily watched him with concern. "I'm surprised he was able to wake up himself, let alone wake you up."

Sirius shrugged his friend off before going back to this breakfast in front of him, shoving food in his mouth in an attempt to wake himself up.

"So, where did you guys run off to anyway," Sirius asked as he chewed, causing Lily to look away in disgust.

"Back to the corridor. That picture returned, but he didn't tell us anything helpful."

"You mean we did all of that for nothing?" Sirius asked, groaning.

"Maybe not..." Lily said, before shutting her mouth. She hadn't meant for that to slip out - she planned on keeping her suspicions to herself until she knew whether they were right or not.

James turned to look down at her. "What are you talking about, Evans?"

Lily blushed and poked at her muffin, heating up under the four gazes directed at her. "Nothing."

James nudged her lightly in the shoulder. "No, it's not 'nothing'. You know something, don't you? Is that why you stayed behind?"

Lily bit her lip and continued ignoring the others, trying to decide what she should tell them.

"You already let the cat out of the bag, you might as well not leave us hanging," Sirius said, annoyance in his voice.

Lily looked up at the four Marauders watching her, her cheeks still colored a bright pink. "Well, I thought Henry was hiding something, that's all."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked, curious.

"Well, did you see how he was acting? He knows something else, I'm sure of it. I just don't know what."

"What could he possibly be hiding? And why would he hide something anyway - what does he have to gain from keeping information from us, other than pissing us off?" Sirius asked, still annoyed.

"I think he's scared," Lily said, finally looking back up completely rather than watching her breakfast. "The person really scared him, so much that he's worried for his safety."

"He's a picture - what's the worst that can happen to him?"

"There's plenty - this person could easily attack him. Pictures can be destroyed, you know."

"So basically, we're screwed because this baby is too scared to tell us what we need to know?"

Lily shook her head, watching the wall behind Sirius and Peter's heads with a faraway look as she fell deep into thought. "I think he'll tell us, he just needs time."

"And why would he tell us? It's not like we can bribe him or anything - he's just a picture."

Lily's gaze returned from its faraway place. "I think he'll tell us. Guilt, probably, will help us."

"What do you mean? Why would he be guilty?"

"Because he knows that the information he has could help us, and could put a stop to all of this. He's too scared right now, but I think he'll come around, hopefully sooner rather than later."

"So we're just going to sit around waiting in the meantime? Great plan," Sirius said sarcastically. Lily felt Remus shift next to her as he kicked his friend in the leg, causing Sirius to wince in pain.

"Well, we'll have plenty to do in the meantime," James pointed out as he took a bite out of his donut.

Lily glanced up at James questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"For one thing, Quidditch try-outs for the Gryffindor team are tonight. I'm the Captain this year so I have to be there running things. And Padfoot will be there of course."

"Trying out for beater again?" Lily asked as she started eating her muffin.

"Of course - Prongs needs me by his side, beating back all those nasty little Slytherins who will be trying to push him off his broom."

"Hey, I can defend myself - I'm much faster than you on a broom."

"True, but unimportant."

James nudged Lily. "Are you going to come and watch? You can sit with Moony and Wormtail."

"I don't know about that - I have loads of homework..."

"Come on, Evans, live a little. Besides, you know Prongs wants you to fall behind on homework again so that you need his help."

Lily rolled her eyes but she was laughing. It was true that it'd be fun to just watch a bunch of Gryffindors flying around on brooms, especially if it got her mind off of all the problems going on in the wizarding world. Besides, it was looking like it was going to be a gorgeous day, as the sky mimicked the colorful sunrise outside.

James smiled as he saw Lily actually considering his invitation, and his spirits rose even higher when she nodded and replied that she might as well.

"Might as well what?"

The Marauders and Lily turned to face Dillon, Ivy's younger brother, as he sat down next to Sirius.

"Lily here has decided to honor us with her presence at the Quidditch try-outs tonight," James said as he slung his arm around her shoulders. Lily rolled her eyes again but didn't bother attempting to get out from under his strong arm.

"Are you trying out for seeker again, Dillon?" Remus asked, his breakfast already eaten.

"I think so. And Ivy mentioned trying out for beater rather than keeper this year."

"Really?" Sirius asked, his eyebrow rising in question.

"She said that spending more time with you guys has given her a lot of pent-up anger that she needs to get out, and she thought hitting bludgers would do the trick," Dillon said wryly as he reached over Sirius for some sausage. Lily giggled as the four boys tried to look offended but were barely hiding their own grins.

"Well, all the more reason to go, I guess - Ivy will need my support," Lily said as she finished up her muffin, daintily dabbing at her lips with her napkin.

"Sure, use all the excuses you want," James whispered loudly in Lily's ear. Lily scoffed and elbowed him in the stomach, smiling as he gasped for breath for a few seconds before recovering.

"Where is the lovely Ms. Parks anyway?" Sirius asked her brother. "I'd like to size up my competition, if I can call her that."

"I think you'll be surprised - she was practicing a lot over summer break. I have the bruises to show you," Dillon said as he proudly displayed a purple welt on his forearm. "Anyway, I think she's still in bed. A morning person, she is not. Although I'm sort of surprised to see that you managed to wake up before her, Lils."

"I just felt like waking up early today, I guess. I decided it'd be best to let her sleep in a little longer. I knew she'd be grouchy if I woke her up, plus I didn't feel like dealing with her questions."

"Questions about what?"

Lily bit her lip, saying the wrong thing for the second time that morning. "Just something we were talking about last night. Not really important."

The questioning look on Dillon's face remained, but the smirk also there showed that he was willing to let it go, at least for now.

James, Sirius, and Dillon return to their conversation about Quidditch, with Peter listening in amazement and awe. Remus, who didn't care much about Quidditch, turned to Lily with a smile on his face. "What do you say we leave these guys and head off to Herbology together? I doubt they'll even notice we're gone."

Lily smirked and nodded, grabbing her bag from the floor and getting up. Sure enough, the boys didn't notice them leaving, although Lily thought she saw James glance at them as they turned the corner.

"So, do you really think Henry will tell us what he's hiding?" Remus asked Lily as they headed outside to the greenhouses.

Lily shrugged. "I don't know for sure, but I have a feeling that he will, although it may take some time. I think he needs to think it over for a while before he decides what he's going to do, but I figure he'll do the right thing in the end. We're just going to have to hope that it's not too late."

"I hope you're right. But what should we do while we wait? We can't sit around and do nothing."

"I guess we'll just have to keep an eye out. Although I think we need to do something to prepare ourselves, maybe arm ourselves."

"Like what? Learning spells?"

"That'd be a good idea. This person hasn't attacked anyone yet, but it's best to be prepared. Maybe a few of us could get together after school some nights and practice some defensive spells."

"That actually sounds like a really good idea. We'd have to do it around Quidditch practices, of course, because you know that James and Sirius would want to join in, and if Ivy found out she would probably want to join in. We might as well ask Dillon if he wants to join us as well."

"I'm sure we're not the only ones who need this - we could probably find some other Gryffindors and a handful of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. We might want to keep it a secret, though - I'm not so sure that all of the teachers would want us practicing defensive spells by ourselves. And they might force us to let Slytherins join and you know that'd be a disaster, especially since they're probably the ones behind this all."

"True. Well, we can start off small; make sure that this is something we want to do. We can mention it to the rest of the Marauders later."

"Tell us what?"

Lily turned around to face James, who had come up behind them along with Sirius. Peter was nowhere to be seen, but Lily was sure that he wasn't too far behind.

"Lily had an idea for what we can do while we wait for Henry to get back to us," Remus said, before explaining her idea. When he was done, both boys nodded as they thought it over.

"Sounds like fun, plus it'll really help, although there's very little we don't know," Sirius said with a cocky grin on his handsome face. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Hey, where's Wormtail?" Remus asked, finally noticing his third friend's absence.

Sirius shrugged. "One minute he was behind us and the next he was gone. I figure he got lost or something. Hopefully some kind soul will remind him where his Charms class is."

"Anyway, back to Evans' idea," James said, waving off his friend's disappearance easily. "I think we should do it. We could find an abandoned classroom that the teachers tend to avoid and use some spells to keep people from finding it."

"What classroom would we use, though? They're all used at some point," Remus pointed out, causing the four to pause and think. Then an idea popped into Lily's head and a smile spread across her face.

"What about the Room of Requirement?"

"The what?" Sirius asked, obviously annoyed to be out of the loop.

"You mean Potter didn't tell you what we found in the library yesterday?"

"Well, a lot of stuff happened after that, if you recalled. Finding the Room of Requirement definitely wasn't the biggest thing that happened yesterday."

"Who cares about that - what's the Room of Requirement?" Sirius asked, still frustrated.

"It's a special room that's nearly impossible to find. If we use it, we'd be almost guaranteed to keep it a secret."

"Sounds good. We could check it out later this week."

The group all nodded as the bell rang out across the castle, alerting them to the time.

"Well, guess we'd better head into the greenhouse," Remus said as he gestured to the glass building about ten yards away from them. The group headed over through the open door, finding a table of four. They sat in silence as the other seventh years in their N.E.W.T.-level Herbology class came in and found their own seats.

The class went by fairly quickly for Lily - she was too busy taking notes before tackling their class project to worry about anything else. The rest of the day continued in the same manner, until it was already dinner, with Lily and Ivy eating with the Marauders before they headed out to the Quidditch field for try-outs.

"Are you ready?" Lily asked her friend worriedly, who was merely pushing her food around on her plate rather than eating it. Ivy was a very good keeper, but there was no guarantee that she'd be good enough as a beater, especially since there was only one position open - the other beater position was as good as Sirius', thanks not only to his friendship with James but also because of his great skill.

"Great, just great," Ivy said, flashing one of her trademark smiles, but with only about half the normal wattage. "I just want to get this over with."

"If what Dillon tells us is true, then you have nothing to worry about," James said, overhearing their conversation. "Besides, our old beater graduated last year so at least the only real competition you have at the moment is Padfoot."

Ivy didn't look very reassured, but Lily shot James a smile in thanks.

"Maybe we should head down to the pitch now," James suggested. "We're all done eating anyway; just sitting here will only freak us out."

"Speak for yourself. I feel great," Sirius said, but he shut up when Remus, James, and Lily all shot him a glare. "But we can go if you want."

The six of them headed to the pitch, joking around as they neared it. At the stands the group split in two, with James, Sirius, and Ivy headed down to the field while Lily found a spot with Remus and Peter. They settled in as the group down on the field began to grow, first through seventh year Gryffindors milling around with their brooms, some new and others very, very old. Lily caught sight of Dillon standing next to his sister, probably trying to give her advice or at least calm her down. Lily gave her friend a silent prayer of support, desperately hoping that she would get the beater position. If Ivy didn't get it, Lily knew she'd be inconsolable and wouldn't get over it for months. The two girls were alike in most ways, but Ivy's passion for Quidditch was something that Lily didn't really understand, although she certainly respected it, if only for the sake of her close friend.

"Don't worry about Ivy - I'm sure she'll be fine," Remus said, reading Lily's worried expression easily. Lily smiled in thanks before turning back to the field, where the try-outs were just beginning.

"Okay, Gryffindors, please separate into four groups. We'll test the seeker first, then keeper, next chasers, and end the night with beaters." James' voice rang out, loud enough without a spell to amplify it.

There were four people trying out for seeker, including Dillon. James released the snitch into the air, stepping back and letting the magical golden ball do the testing for him. Lily cheered as Dillon darted around the other Gryffindors, catching the snitch after only ten or so minutes. Lily quickly stood up, clapping her hands loudly as Dillon flew back to the ground, accepting a hug from his sister as he handed the snitch to James, a sheepish grin on his face.

James did the same thing a few more times, releasing the snitch again and again to test them. Dillon caught it two more times, and missed it another two. Lily crossed her fingers and hoped that the Parks luck would continue for Ivy.

As the four seeker hopefuls joined the stands, the next group stepped up, this time trying out for Ivy's old position of keeper. Lily congratulated Dillon with a hug before turning back to the field to watch the keepers take to the sky, including one of Lily and Ivy's roommates, Emma Vane. Emma was quite skilled at flying, blocking the most quaffles from sneaking through the three suspended hoops. Lily cheered loudly for her, excited at the thought of having two roommates on the Quidditch team.

Once the keepers were done, it was time for the chasers. James, as Captain, automatically got the position of chaser, so there were two open spots on the team. Seven people were trying out for the two positions, including a few giggling first and second years who didn't have any idea what they were doing. Lily couldn't help but laugh when one of the girls ended up flying straight into the ground, jumping up in seconds with her face bright red.

As the sun began sinking behind the trees of the Forbidden Forest, Lily found her anxiety growing as she waited for the beaters try-out to begin. Her attention began to wander as James ran the same exercises over and over again, still trying out the chasers. By the time they returned to the ground with their brooms over their shoulders and the beaters took to the skies, Lily's fingers were digging into the flesh of both Dillon and Remus' arms on either side of her, who both had the decency to ignore it while they too waited nervously for the bludgers to be released.

"Don't worry, Lily, she'll be fine - she spent almost every day practicing this summer," Dillon said, his voice slightly strained from the pressure on his arm.

"Plus, James will be slightly biased towards her - not only are we sort-of friends with her now, but he probably hopes he'll get in your good graces if he puts her on the team," Remus pointed out, a wry smile on his pale face.

Lily scoffed but secretly hoped that he might be right, although she wasn't sure if Ivy's position on the Quidditch team was enough to get her to go out with James.

Lily's fingers dug further into the boys' arms as Ivy took to the sky next to Sirius, lazily circling around the outskirts of the group as she waited for the bludgers. She glanced in their direction, smiling when she saw Lily slightly freaking out. She shot them a wink before turning her attention back to James, who was about to open the locks on the bludgers. He shouted to get everyone's attention before explaining the try-outs.

"Once I release the bludgers, try to direct them towards those fake Quidditch players over there," he pointed to a group of dummies suspended from the air, all looking suspiciously like Severus Snape. "Try and hit as many as possible, and avoid hitting your fellow beaters - sabotage will be frowned upon, mostly because we're afraid you'll end up hitting one of us during a real game, and we definitely can't have that. So, good luck, and may the best beaters win," he called out dramatically as the chains fell off of the bludgers and they flew up into the sky, immediately trying to knock everyone off their brooms.

Lily tracked her friend as she dodged a bludger, hitting it as it passed by. It missed the dummies but she did manage to hit it in the right direction. Lily watched anxiously as it came back, knocking someone off their broom before it headed in Ivy's direction again. At that point, Lily was nearly cutting off the circulation in Dillon and Remus' arms.

As if she could sense the pressure on her, Ivy noticed the bludger and hit it with all her might, successfully hitting two of the dummies at once.

"Good job, Ive!" Lily shouted, letting go of Dillon and Remus' arms to clap her hands together loudly, missing the boys rubbing their sore arms.

The rest of the try-outs went better as the night went on. The bludgers managed to knock everyone off until the only two left on their brooms were Ivy and Sirius, who were circling each other while they watched warily for the bludgers. Lily's hands had returned to their previous grips on Dillon and Remus' arms, but there was a huge smile on her face now, the product of watching Ivy hit bludger after bludger at the dummies. Now, there was only one left to hit, and both Ivy and Sirius were desperate to be the ones to hit it.

There was only one bludger left soaring around - James had locked up the second one, preparing to head inside soon. All that was left to do was see who had knocked down the last dummy. All of the Gryffindors who had tried out already were sitting in the stands, watching excitedly.

Lily bit her lip as the bludger flew back to the pair, whizzing at high enough speeds to leave behind a whistling sound. It headed towards Ivy's head, almost too fast for her to react. Sirius suddenly bumped into her, pushing her out of the way of the bludger. Sirius even missed hitting the bludger in his haste to push her out of the way.

Dillon let out a low whistle next to Lily. "Looks like I have a new brother. Wonder what it would be like to have Sirius Black as a brother-in-law..."

Lily laughed. "I really doubt that Sirius is the type to marry anytime soon. He probably just wants to be the knight-in-shining-armor and have a fling with your sister."

"Okay, I'll pretend I didn't hear that..." Dillon said.

"Sorry," Lily giggled. "Ooh, the bludger is coming back!"

Lily watched with bated breath as she waited to see who would hit it. Ivy had recovered from being pushed out of the way of the bludger and she and Sirius were both waiting anxiously to see who would hit the bludger and the dummy first. They both practically had the position of beaters in the bag, so this wasn't so much about who would make the team as it was a contest of pride. They both looked prepared to kill to get that bludger - Lily hoped it wouldn't come down to that.

The bludger came back faster than it had the first time, this time directed right in between the two as they waited. Lily closed her eyes, praying silently that it wouldn't end up veering to the side and knocking one of them off their brooms. Her eyes popped open when she heard the distinct crack of the bludger being hit by one of the bats. She saw the final dummy plummet to the ground as Ivy raised her arms in triumph, dropping her bat to the ground before shaking hands with Sirius, a smug smile on her face.

"She hit it, not Sirius?" Lily asked, a little surprised.

Dillon leaned down and whispered in Lily's ear. "Don't tell Ivy this, but I'm almost positive that he let her. Sirius could have easily gotten that bludger, but he let her get it."

"Well, he's really trying to butter her up, huh?" Lily said with a smirk. "Come on, let's go down there."

The four headed down to the field, where Sirius and James were deep in conversation while Ivy was surrounded by a bunch of people congratulating her. Figuring it would take Ivy a while to get away from her fans, Ivy headed over to the two dark-haired boys along with Remus and Peter while Dillon tried to sneak into the crowd to congratulate his sister.

The two boys stopped talking when they saw the three people approaching them.

"I don't think I've ever seen Sirius Black miss a bludger," Lily smirked, coming up next to the boys with her arms crossed over her chest.

"He probably missed it because he was too busy watching Ivy with his tongue hanging out," Peter said, laughing at his joke. James and Remus both laughed while Sirius punched his friend's shoulder. Lily giggled behind her own hand, watching Sirius' cheeks color slightly, a very rare sight.

"The sun was in my eyes and I missed it," Sirius grumbled.

"Padfoot, I hate to break it to you, but there is no sun - it's almost completely set, and it was behind you so it wouldn't have bothered you even if it were higher," James said as he patted his friend on his back as if he were sorry for Sirius' lack of intelligence.

"Oh, shut up," Sirius said, turning his fist half-heartedly on James.

"Great comeback," Lily said sarcastically, still giggling.

"Wow, Evans sure has gotten a bite to her bark since she's been spending more time with us. Personally, I blame Moony - I think he's a bad influence," James said lightheartedly.

"How about we head back to the common room before someone gets into a fight," Remus suggested, a wry smile on his face.

"Sounds like a good idea - we can have a party in the common room," James said, slinging his arm around Lily's shoulders, who got a whiff of James' armpits.

"Hopefully you can take a shower first," she said as she coughed.

"What, so you can join him?" Sirius asked, still smarting from being the butt of the joke.

"And you wonder why she doesn't want to spend time with us, mate," James said as he squeezed Lily's shoulder, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "But you can join me if you want."

Lily scoffed as she elbowed James in the stomach, getting out from underneath his arm and sticking herself in between Peter and Remus, her arms crossed over her chest again.

They spent the whole walk listening to James and Sirius make plans for an impromptu party in the common room. Sirius and Peter went off to the kitchens to get some food. James spent the rest of the walk trying to convince Lily to dance with him while Remus rolled his eyes and wished he had gone to the kitchens with Sirius and Peter.

After ten minutes of James whining, Lily finally broke down. "Fine, I'll dance with you, as long as you shut up!"

James quieted down with a smug smile on his face.

The party began very quickly, with Gryffindors coming in from the Quidditch field or their dormitories. The arrival of food, thanks to Sirius and Peter, was welcomed with cheers. Lily got a butterbeer before retreating to one of the seats in front of the fire, relieved to finally have a moment to herself.

"Hey, Evans, I believe that's my seat."

Lily groaned as she looked up to James, who was probably there to claim his promised dance.

"I don't see your name on it, Potter."

"Ooh, touché, Evans."

"Let me guess, you want your dance now?"

"Well, that's why I originally came over here, but I think I'll take a rain check on that. You look like you're taking a well-deserved rest after our eventful few days back at Hogwarts, huh?"

"Yeah, I am. It has been crazy, and I have a feeling that it's only going to get crazier. Hopefully the craziness will be balanced with some relaxation, but I have a feeling it won't."

"You're probably right, but at least we aren't going to sit back and let all this stuff happen to us. If we go through with your idea of forming a club, then we'll get the chance to fight back. It'll be nice to not feel like we're pawns in a game, but actual competition for all the craziness out there. So, what do you say we toast to fighting back?" James held up his own glass of butterbeer, a grin on his face.

Lily gave him a little smile before clinking her glass against his. "To fighting back."

They took big gulps of their drink before giving each other equally shy smiles.

* * *

**I hope you liked that chapter even though, like I said, it was more of a filler chapter. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter soon - and remember, reviews always help me write more. :D Enjoy your Sunday and hopefully more snow is on its way - then I can write more!**


	9. How Things Change

**Well, it's been a while - sorry about that! Luckily spring break allows me to write more than normal, so hopefully I'll have the next chapter ready by next Sunday, back on schedule. Before I get started, though, I'd like to thank Hypermuse and Sparkle_Ninja27 for reviewing the story the last time I updated (over two months ago, sorry about that!). I hope this chapter makes about for the long wait - it's not quite as long as some of the past chapters have been, and is a little slow at the beginning, but a bit of a cliffhanger ending, plus some Lily-James stuff, so hopefully you'll like it! And Happy Easter, to those who celebrate it, and if you don't, Happy Normal Sunday!**

_**Disclaimer: I may not own the world of Harry Potter, but I hope to own my own copy of the seventh movie very soon!**_

* * *

Chapter Nine: How Things Change

Lily woke up with a jerk as she felt something jump onto her bed. Opening her eyes slowly, Lily smiled as she saw her cat, Sasha, curling up at the end of her bed, her little black body warm against Lily's feet. With all the craziness going on, Lily hadn't had much of a chance to spend time with Sasha. She missed Sasha snuggling up with her while she was doing homework or just reading.

Glancing over at Ivy, Lily smiled. Her friend looked exhausted - she had stayed at the party last night a lot longer than Lily had, surrounded by admirers - but she had a smile of her own on her face, probably dreaming of the Quidditch try-outs.

Slipping out of her bed, Lily headed into the bathroom, taking a shower and getting dressed quickly. She stepped back into the dormitory, toweling off her red hair as she fed Sasha, absentmindedly petting her on the head as she pulled on a pair of shoes. She glanced at Ivy again before heading downstairs, planning on getting to breakfast early to have a little time alone to read the paper.

The Great Hall was fairly empty. Glancing at her watch, Lily saw why: it was barely 6:30 on a Wednesday morning. Most people were probably still in bed, especially the Gryffindors who been partying the night away. Lily was sure that many of them would be nursing hangovers that day.

Lily looked up at the ceiling as a lone grey owl flew done with a _Daily Prophet_ clutched in its talons. She slipped her hand into her pocket, pulling out a few Sickles to stick in the pouch on the owl's leg.

Opening up the paper, Lily quickly scanned the various articles, looking for something about Muggle attacks or Voldemort sightings. It had become a habit, making sure that she didn't find any names that she recognized, like her own family. She knew they were probably safe in their normal home, far away from the wizarding world, but she couldn't help but worry about them anyway. Muggle attacks were becoming more common, especially Muggle families who had children at Hogwarts. The Death Eaters probably thought that by attacking the Muggle-born students indirectly, they could take down the school of Hogwarts, though it might take some time. Lily couldn't help but worry whenever she went home for the holidays, away from the protective walls of her magical school. She was thinking about staying at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays, but she had plenty of time to decide.

As Lily was reading an article about some of the new security measures that the Ministry of Magic was taking in Hogsmeade, a shadow fell across the paper. She glanced up and flinched as her former best friend sat down across from her, his dark hair unusually greasy today. His face looked paler, too, as if he had spent his entire summer break locked up in his house for fear of seeing the sun. Lily couldn't help but notice that there were great bags underneath his eyes, probably from lack of sleep.

Lily sighed. "What do you want, Severus?"

Severus paused for a few seconds before answering, as if he was choosing his words carefully. "I'm worried about you, Lily."

"I'm the one who should be worried about you - you look awful. Have you been getting any sleep recently?"

"Don't worry about me. I'm not the one who is in danger."

"What are you talking about, Severus?"

"Those messages are only the beginning. It's only going to get worse, and you're in danger."

"I repeat, what are you talking about, Severus?"

"Lily, they want to hurt all the Muggleborns, especially you. You're the head girl and one of the brightest witches in this school - they'd love to take you down a few pegs. You're in danger."

"You keep repeating that, but how can I be in such danger? What's anyone going to do in a school full of powerful professors who will do anything to protect their students?"

"You don't understand, Lily. They have elaborate plans, schemes that will keep them from getting in trouble. They aren't playing around - they're prepared to do whatever it takes, and they aren't about to get caught when they have so many ideas. They want to wipe out all the Muggleborns in this school, and they're not going to go down without a fight."

"Do you know what these plans are? If you do, you have to tell Dumbledore - he can stop this."

"No, he can't, Lily. This is so much bigger than anything he can handle."

"So why are you telling me? If Dumbledore can't stop this, then what can I do?"

"Nothing, Lily. You shouldn't do anything, other than get out. Out of this school, maybe even out of the country. You need to get as far away from all of this as possible."

"You want me to run away? Are you insane?"

"No, I just want to keep you safe. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"I'm not going to run away with my tail between my legs like a bloody coward, Severus. Hogwarts is my home, and I feel safe here. If you want to help me, you'll tell Dumbledore what you know and we'll fix this. But if you're not willing to do that, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave me alone to enjoy my breakfast in peace."

Severus sighed but got up, his hands shaking slightly as he smoothed his robes. "You'll be sorry that you didn't heed my warnings, Lily. Things will get much worse before they get any better."

Before Lily could snap back, he was already walking quickly away, leaving the quiet atmosphere of the Great Hall as he headed somewhere, probably the dungeons - he always seemed to find solace in the dank underground of the school, surrounded by whatever potions he was currently working on. Lily used to spend many hours next to him, coming up with new concoctions together, but now she could barely stand to be in the dungeons unless it was for class. It brought back too many memories, especially when Lily just wanted to focus on her present life.

"Good morning," a voice brought Lily out of her thoughts. Lily looked up and smiled at the sight of Emma Vane. Emma's curly dark hair still had the appearance of slight bed head, but other than that she looked a lot more awake than most of the students already in the Great Hall.

"Good morning, Emma. You're up a bit early, aren't you?"

"I tend to get up early so that I can fit a little Quidditch practice in before class starts. I'm surprised to see you up so early, though - normally everyone else in our dormitory is still fast asleep when I get up."

"I just felt like getting up early and reading the _Prophet_ by myself for a little while. I figured this place would be completely deserted, but I guess I'm not the only one who decided to get up a little early today."

"Yeah, there are always a few people who enjoy the quiet of the morning before this place is full of screaming students."

The two girls stopped talking for a little while as they dug into their breakfasts; the only sounds were their chewing and requests to pass the butter or sugar. Lily never really got to spend a lot of time with Emma - she was normally hanging out with Ivy or the Marauders or Dillon, and, in the past, Severus. Emma and Lily were always civil to each other, and they often did homework together, but she never really got a chance to talk to her otherwise.

"So, when are the results of the try-outs going to go up?" Lily asked once they were done eating.

"I think James said it'd be either tonight or sometime before the weekend. I'm going to be a bunch of nerves until he puts them up, I just know it."

"I wouldn't be too worried - I was at the try-outs and thought you were great. Probably the best trying out for keeper. Where'd you get so good?"

"Thanks. I practiced with my older brother, who was the keeper before he graduated from Hogwarts. He's working at the Ministry now, but he helped me practice whenever he could."

"Well, the practicing paid off - if you don't make the team, then I'll just have to talk to James myself."

"Ooh, I'm sure he'd like that."

Emma and Lily looked up at Remus, who had just arrived at the table. He sat down next to Emma, grabbing an apple from the fruit basket.

"Well, if James doesn't put Emma on the team and I have to talk to him, he'll be sorry because I won't be in a happy mood at all. Wasn't Emma amazing? She definitely deserves to be keeper."

"Lily's right - you were by far the best keeper of the bunch," Remus assured Emma between bites. Emma blushed slightly but looked incredibly happy to receive the praise.

"Well, I'm going to go off to practice now - if I make the team, I want to make sure that I'm amazing and James doesn't regret his decision," Emma said as she got up and grabbed her broom, which had been sitting on the empty bench next to her. "Bye Remus, Lily. I'll see you guys in class."

"Bye, Emma. Make sure you don't stay out too long - it looks like it may rain soon," Lily said, indicating the gloomy sky that was above them, courtesy of the enchanted ceiling. Emma nodded and waved as she headed out.

Lily and Remus soon fell into a conversation about the upcoming Quidditch season, which Lily had difficulty really getting into. They were soon joined by James, Sirius, Peter, Ivy, and Dillon, though, and the conversation grew, taking over the group as they laughed and ate and forgot all about the problems going on inside their school. By the time that Lily and the others headed to their first class, Lily felt like things were back to normal.

The positive mood was still around when Lily sat down at the Gryffindor table for dinner. She was happily munching on a dinner roll when a letter suddenly fell in front of her, landing neatly on her lap. She looked up to see an owl flying out of the hall, probably heading back to the owlery. Most owls were there right now, since post normally came in the morning, but sometimes letters were too important to wait until the next morning, and owls would swoop into the hall to find the recipients of the letters as soon as possible.

Seeing it, Lily's stomach immediately dropped. Was something wrong back at home? Was someone hurt? Why else would she get a letter now, rather than the next morning?

"Um, I'll be right back," Lily croaked as she got up, quickly leaving the hall with the letter clutched in her sweaty palms. Her heart was beating rapidly and seemed loud enough for everyone to hear as she made the long trek out of the Great Hall and into the privacy of the landing outside of it.

Lily found an empty bench to sit on, her hands shaking slightly as she ripped it open. She read the letter, her mood changing as the words sunk in.

_Dear Lily,_

_Don't worry, nothing's wrong - this letter is purely good news. I told your mother that you would instantly be worried if you got a rush letter like this, but she didn't want this news to wait: Petunia is getting married._

_Yes, I know that she's only been dating Vernon Dursley for six months, but Petunia swears that they're in love and perfect for each other. You know how Petunia is - once she decides something, there's no changing her mind. So they're planning for a late June wedding - Mum's request, so that you can be there for the wedding - and we think Petunia is going to ask you to be the Maid of Honor. I know that you girls haven't been getting along much lately, but you've been sisters longer than you've been enemies, so I trust that you two will put aside your feelings, if only for the wedding._

_Mum sends her love, and we hope to see you at Christmas, although we understand if it's safer for you to stay at school. In the meantime, work hard and make us proud._

_Love,_

_Your Father_

Lily let the letter fall to the ground, her mind racing as she tried to decide what emotion she should be feeling right then. She'd only met Vernon a few times, and each time he annoyed her more and more. He was a very large man who worked with drills, and was hoping to own a drilling empire by the time he was thirty. He was two years older than Petunia, although he looked at least ten years older, his black hair already starting to get specks of grey, probably because he was so freaked out by Lily.

Petunia had been forced to reveal the truth about Lily a week before she left for Hogwarts. Their parents didn't want to lie about anything, especially since they believed Petunia's relationship was serious. Apparently they had been right, even though Vernon had originally freaked out when Lily showed him what she could do by turning his glass of wine into a frog, which proceeded to jump all over him before Lily managed to change it back, fighting back laughter the entire time.

"Are you okay?"

Lily looked up to see James, who had his hands in his pockets as he looked down at her, concern written all over his face.

Lily mustered up a tiny smile, but her heart wasn't in it. She tried to stick the letter into her pocket, but her fumbling fingers were much too slow for James' quick ones. Lily sighed and looked at her fidgeting feet as James quickly read the letter, sitting down next to Lily as he did.

When James was done reading it, he handed it back and slowly put an arm around her shoulder. Lily didn't bother pushing him away - instead, she lowered her head onto his shoulder and closed her eyes. With all of the danger going on in Hogwarts and the wizarding world, it was easy to forget about her family drama. The letter brought it all back, though.

"I assume you aren't happy about this announcement, huh?" James asked, his voice soothing.

"That's one way to put it. I hate this man that Petunia's dating, and now it sounds like he'll be family." Lily shuddered slightly. "He's the worst kind of Muggle imaginable - he hates me, after we told him the truth. He can barely stand being in the same room as me, and now my parents want me to be my sister's maid of honor. She won't allow it, I know she won't - Petunia hates me. She'll probably pretend to go along with my parents' plan and choose one of her own friends at the last minute."

"Do you want to be the maid of honor?"

Lily bit her lip, turning the question over in her head. "I wish I didn't, but I do. I love my sister, even though she hates me now. I've always hoped that she'll change her mind, and we'll go back to normal. But I don't want to be the maid of honor if my parents have to force my sister to do that - I want my sister to choose me. We may never have a good relationship again, but this could help mend things, at least a little."

"So why don't you talk to your sister?"

"That wouldn't work - Petunia doesn't speak to me anymore. She gave me the cold shoulder the entire summer break - I'm pretty sure the only time she talked to me was when she thought I borrowed a dress from her and forgot to give it back. And even then, she merely yelled at me the whole time - not exactly the heart-to-heart that I've been hoping for. I won't be able to see her until at least Christmas break, and I may not even go back then, so the only way I have to contact her is by sending a letter, but Petunia hates owls, so she'll just ignore it, or not bother answering me. There's nothing I can do."

"So you're just going to give up?"

Lily felt a tear slip down her cheek. James was right, but she didn't want to admit it.

Standing up suddenly, Lily pulled away from James, quickly running her fist across her face to get rid of the tear - she wasn't going to let anyone know how much this hurt, especially James. Even though they were becoming friends, she wasn't ready to use him as a shoulder to cry on.

"I'm tired - I should work on my homework before I fall asleep," Lily muttered before turning around and walking away as fast as possible. Her footsteps weren't alone, though - she heard James behind her, and he quickly caught up, matching her pace but not saying anything. Lily thought about yelling at him to leave her alone, but she felt as if she didn't even have the strength to do that, plus he wasn't doing anything to annoy her yet.

"Listen, I know you don't want to talk about this with me. But you need to talk to someone. I'm sure Ivy or even Remus would know what to do. Who you talk to doesn't matter, though, you just need to talk to someone. You try to act really strong but you don't have to keep everything inside. No one's made of stone, not even you, Evans," James gave Lily a small smile but stayed out of her personal space, seeming to realize that she needed space.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Lily said, her eyes staring straight forward rather than looking at him. "But you're right - I don't want to talk about this right now. Don't sell yourself short, though - you could be the right person to talk to. You sure have changed since we first met on the Hogwarts train, back in first year. Remember that day?"

"Ah, how could I forget? For you, it was hate at first sight. You and Snivellus were thick as thieves, and Padfoot and I were already beginning our beautiful friendship. How things change, though, huh? Could you ever imagine that one day we would be friends and Snape would be the one you avoided?"

"Yes, things have changed. Sometimes you seem like a completely different person from that day. I think I like that different person a lot better than the Potter I first met."

James gave her another smile, a little bigger this time. He stepped around her, blocking her path and forcing her to stop walking. Lily looked up at him, her bright green eyes unblinking as she watched him and waited to see what he was going to do.

"Have I changed enough yet?"

"Changed enough for what?" Lily asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Have I changed enough for you to finally give me a chance?"

Lily's breathing increased slightly, and she averted her gaze, unsure what to say in response. She had been thinking about James a lot lately, but she wasn't sure what he was exactly. So she did the first thing that popped into her head - she rose up on her toes, gave him a light kiss on his cheek, and whispered, "Maybe."

James smiled again and stepped out of her way, and they continued their walk back to the dormitory in silence, both lost in thoughts.

After a few minutes of only their footsteps, Lily heard another noise, barely noticeable. She stopped and tried to figure out what she was hearing, but all she could hear was silence. Then she heard another sound, almost like something falling to the hard ground, coming from a deserted corridor to her right.

James noticed that she had stopped and retraced his steps, coming to a stop next to her. "What's wrong? Why'd you stop?"

Lily held her finger to her lips as she tried to hear more, but there was nothing.

"I heard something, but I'm not sure what."

"Do you want to check it out?" James looked around, trying to figure out where she was looking.

"I'm not sure - it could have been nothing, or it could be the person who wrote those messages. I'm not sure if I want to confront them, especially if they're dangerous."

"Don't worry - I'll go with you. I'm sure whoever it is, they won't want to take on both the Head Boy and Girl. We could give them enough detentions to last until Halloween."

Lily chuckled slightly at his cockiness, but as she walked toward the corridor, she felt nervous. Hogwarts might be the safest place around, but that didn't mean that it didn't have monsters hidden in its walls - after all, the worst wizard ever had once roamed its halls, a student himself. The next great antagonist to the wizarding world could be a student at Hogwarts right now, just hidden away.

They inched forward quietly, wands out in front of them as they both listened for any noise ahead of them. Lily wished she were anywhere other than here - if only she hadn't received that letter, then she would probably still be in the Great Hall, laughing with her friends rather than sneaking around with James, worried that they might be about to stumble upon the person who had been writing such threatening messages on the walls of Hogwarts. If only she had one of those fabled Time Turners, then she could return to that happy mood she had been in. But she knew that wishing for things that couldn't happen wouldn't change anything, so she pulled herself out of her thoughts and back into the present, where they were about to turn the corner and see what could be making noise. Lily was desperately hoping that Peeves, the poltergeist, was merely playing a prank and had dropped something, but she had a feeling that Peeves wasn't the culprit.

"Stay behind me," James said as quietly as possible, barely audible even in the silence of the corridor. Lily nodded, happy to let him take the lead and be the one to dash out in the open rather than remain in their hiding spot.

James took a deep, silent breath before stepping out, his wand in front of him as if it were a sword, his face emotionless. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Lily peeked around the side, her eyes trying to adjust to the total lack of light. Even though there weren't lights in all of the corridors, they were all enchanted to be partially lit, so it was very odd that this one was pitch black. Someone had obviously used magic to hide what they were doing, which meant it couldn't be a good thing.

"Evans, look here," James whispered, lowering to his knees as he looked at something in the darkness, his eyes squinting to see. Lily followed his gaze, trying to figure out what he could possibly be seeing, but it was too dark and she was too far away to see. She inched closer, illuminating the small space with her wand. She gasped as she took in the sight before them:

A girl lay on the ground, motionless. Lily immediately felt for a pulse, and was relieved to find one, but it was weak. Lily could see why - the girl was covered in bruises, and a small cut on her forehead was lightly bleeding. Scratches covered her pale cheeks, and closer inspection revealed fading fingerprints on her throat, as if someone's hands had been squeezing her neck. Her lip was split and one of her fingers was bent at an angle. Lily felt tears spring to her eyes as she noticed how young the girl looked - she was a second or third year at the most. She was a Hufflepuff, at least according to her yellow and black-striped tie, which was wrapped around her arm, practically cutting off her circulation. Lily unwound it, gently tying it around her neck, as if that could make her feel better. She tried to lift her up, but the girl, though small, was too heavy for her.

Seeing her struggle, James picked the girl up carefully, his face angry and sad at the same time. He looked at Lily with such darkness in his eyes. "Lily, go get Dumbledore - tell him that there's been an attack."

* * *

**I hope you liked this chapter! Hopefully the next one will be longer - reviews will definitely help increase the length (hint, hint)... Until then, happy reading!**


End file.
